Famous American statesmen & orators, past and present : with biographical sketches and their famous orations

LIBRARY

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
DAVIS

A. K. McCLURE, LL.D.

FAMOUS AMERICAN
STATESMEN & ORATORS

PAST AND PRESENT

WITH

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

— AND —

THEIR FAMOUS ORATIONS

IN SrX VOLUMES

VOLUME I

ALEXANDER K. MCCLURE, LL.D.

EDITOR

Author of ^''Lincoln and Men of War Times" "0#r Presidents
and How We Make Them," etc.

BYRON ANDREWS

of the "National Tribune" Washington^ D. C.
ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Author of '" 'The Eastern Question" k^The Life of Logan" "One of
the People" (McKinley), "Monroe and His Doctrine" etc.

NEW YORK
F. F. LOVELL PUBLISHING COMPANY

LIBRARY

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

COPYRIGHT, 1902,
F. F. LOVELL PUBLISHING CO,

— BECKTOLD—

PRINTING AND BOOK MFG. CO.
ST. LOUIS, MO.

CONTENTS.

ADAMS, CHARLES FRANCIS —

On The States and the Union, Page 116, Vol. V.

ADAMS, JOHN—

Inaugural Address, Page 88, Vol. I.
The Boston Massacre, Page 97, Vol. I.

ADAMS, JOHN QUINCY —

Oration at Plymouth, Page 107, Vol. II.

Lafayette, Page 129, Vol. II.

The Jubilee of the Constitution, Page 137, Vol. II.

ADAMS, SAMUEL —

American Independence, Page 27, Vol. I.

AMES, FISHER —

On The British Treaty, Page 19, Vol. II.
ANDREW, JOHN A. —

The Eve of War, Page 380, Vol. I.

BAYARD, THOMAS F. —

On The U. S. Army, Page 133, Vol. IV.

BEECHER, HENRY WARD —

Address at Liverpool, Oct. 16, 1863, Page 204, Vol. V.

BENTON, THOMAS H. —

On The Expunging Resolution, Page 108, Vol. III.

BEVERIDGE, ALBERT J. —

For The Greater Republic, Not for Imperialism, Page 3,
Vol. VI.

BLAINE, JAMES G. —

On The Remonetization of Silver, Page 172, Vol. IV.

BOUDINOT, ELIAS —

Oration before the Cincinnati, Page 195, Vol. I.

BRECKINRIDGE, JOHN C. —

Address Preceding the Removal of the Senate, Page 371,
Vol. IV.

BROOKS, PHILLIPS —

Abraham Lincoln, Page 131, Vol. VI.

BROOKS, PRESTON S. —

Speech on the Sumner Assault, Page 376, Vol. II.
1— I

4 CONTENTS.

BROWN, BENJAMIN GRATZ —

On Slavery in its National Aspects as Related to Peace and
War, Page 356, Vol. VI.

BROWN, JOHN —

Words to Gov. Wise at Harper's Ferry, Page 380, Vol. VI.
Last Speech to the Court, Page 381, Vol. VI.

BRYAN, WILLIAM J. —

The Cross of Gold, Page 251, Vol. V.

BRYANT, WILLIAM CULLEN —

Welcome to Louis Kossuth, Page 62, Vol. VI.
Address at the Founding of the Metropolitan Art Museum,
Page 66, Vol. VI.

BUCHANAN, JAMES —

Inaugural Address, Page i , Vol. IV.

BURGES, TRISTAM —

Rebuke to Randolph, Page 198, Vol. II.

BURLINGAME, ANSON

Massachusetts and Sumner, Page 13, Vol. III.

BUTLER, BENJAMIN F. —

Character and Results of the War, Page 336, Vol. IV.

CALHOUN, JOHN C. —

On Nullification and the Force Bill, Page 315, Vol. III.
Speech on the Slavery Question, Page 327, Vol. III.

CASS, LEWIS —

On the Spirit of the Age, Page 357, Vol. III.

CHANNING, WM. ELLERY —

Character of Christ, Page 84, Vol. III.

CHOATE, RUFUS —

Books and Civilization in America, Page 88, Vol. V.

*j/ CHOATE, JOSEPH H. —

Oration on Rufus Choate, Page 214, Vol. IV.

CLAY, CASSIUM M. —

Address at Yale College, Page 149, Vol. V.

CLAY, HENRY —

Dictators in American Politics, Page 336, Vol. II.

On the Expunging Resolutions, Page 350, Vol. II.

On the Seminole War, Page 354, Vol. II.

The Emancipation of South America, Page 360, Vol. II.

s/ CLEMENS, SAMUEL L. —

New England Weather, Page 321, Vol. IV.

/ CLEVELAND, GROVER —

First Inaugural Address, Page 276, Vol. V.

CONTENTS. 5

CLINTON, DE WITT —

Phi Beta Kappa Address, Page 169, Vol. II.

COCKRAN, WILLIAM BOURKE —

Reply to William J. Bryan, Page 263, Vol. V.

CONKLING, ROSCOE

Speech Nominating Grant, Page 166, Vol. IV.

CORWIN, THOMAS —

From Speech on the Mexican War, Page 43, Vol. VI.

Cox, SAMUEL S. —

The Beauties of Diplomacy, Page 78, Vol. V.

CRITTENDON, JOHN J. —

On the Crittendon Compromise, Page 371, Vol. III.

CUMMINGS, AMOS J. —

On the Naval Appropriation Bill, Page 106, Vol. VI.

CURTIS, GEORGE WILLIAM —

On the Spoils System and the Progress of Civil Service
Reform, Page 253, Vol. VI.

DALLAS, GEO. M. —

Eulogy of Andrew Jackson, Page 62, Vol. IV.

/ DAVIS, JEFFERSON —

Inaugural Address, Page 133, Vol. V.

DEPEW, CHAUNCEY M. —

Speech at the Dinner to Celebrate the Anniversary of the
Birth of General Grant, Page 311, Vol. IV.

DEXTER, SAMUEL —

Argument in Selfridge's Trial, Page 57, Vcl. II.

DONNELLY, IGNATIUS —

Reconstruction, Page 197, Vol. IV.

ELIOT, CHAS. W.—

Inaugural Address as President of Harvard University,
Page 274, Vol. IV.

EMERSON, RALPH WALDO — •

Harvard's Heroes, Page 99, Vol. V.

/ EVARTS, WILLIAM M. —

The Day We Celebrate, Page 326, Vol. IV.

.- EVERETT, WILLIAM—

Patriotism, Page 153, Vol. VI.

FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN —

The Federal Constitution, Page 19, Vol. I.
Dangers of a Salaried Bureaucracy, Page 22, Vol. I.

GALLATIN, ALBERT —

On the British Treaty, Page 40, Vol. II.

O CONTENTS.

GARFIELD, JAMES A. —

Inaugural Address, Page 185, Vol. IV.

GARRISON, WILLIAM LLOYD —

Words of Encouragement to Oppressed, Page 103, Vol. V.

GRADY, HENRY W. —

The New South, Page 342, Vol. V.

GRANT, ULYSSES S. —

Speech at Warren, Ohio, Page 43, Vol. V.
GREELEY, HORACE —

On the Union of Workers, page 195, Vol. V.

GROW, GALUSHA —

On Manila, Page 38, Vol. III.

HALE, EDWARD EVERETT—

New England Culture, Page 32, Vol. V.

HAMILTON, ALEXANDER —

On the Expediency of Adopting the Federal Constitution,
Page 370, Vol. I.

HANCOCK, JOHN —

Oration on the Boston Massacre, Page 160, Vol. I.

HANNA, MARCUS A. —

Promotion of Commerce and Increase of Trade, Page 283,

Vol. V.
HARRISON, BENJAMIN —

Inaugural Address, Page 224, Vol. IV.

HAWLEY, JOSEPH H. —

On the Press, Page no, Vol. IV.

HAY, JOHN —

Secretary of State's Tribute to the Dead President, Page
193, Vol. VI.

HAYES, RUTHERFORD B. —

Campaign Speech, Page 53, Vol. V.

HAYNE, ROBERT Y. —

On Foot's Resolution, Page 12, Vol. IV.

HENRY, PATRICK —

"Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death," Page 126, Vol. I.
"We, the People," or "We, the States?" Page 131, Vol. I.
"A Nation — Not a Federation," Page 135, Vol. I.
The Bill of Rights, Page 140, Vol. I.
Liberty or Empire ?, Page 146, Vol. I.

HIGGINSON, THOMAS WENTWORTH —

Decoration Day Address at Mount Auburn Cemetary, May

30, 1870, Page 222, Vol. VI.
Oration Upon Grant, Page 226, Vol. VI.
For Self Respect and Self Protection, Page 234, Vol. VI.

CONTENTS, /

HILL, BENJAMIN H. —

On the Perils of the Nation, Page 181, Vol. VI.

HOAR, GEORGE F. —

Address at the Banquet of the New England Society, Page
83, Vol. IV.

HOLLAND, JOSIAH G. —

Eulogy of Abraham Lincoln, Page 3, Vol. II.

HOLMES, OLIVER WENDELL —

Leave no Verbal Message, Page 139, Vol. V.

HOUSTON, SAMUEL —

Speech of the Nebraska and Kansas Bill, Page 75, Vol. IV.

INGALLS, JOHN J. —

On the Political Situation, Page 241, Vol. IV.

INGERSOLL, ROBERT G. —

Blaine, the Plumed Knight, Page 381, Vol. V.

JACKSON, ANDREW —

State Rights and Federal Sovereignty, Page 149, Vol. II.
Jackson's Farewell Address, Page 154, Vol. II.

JAY, JOHN —

Address to the People of Great Britain, Page 256, Vol. I.

JEFFERSON, THOMAS —

Democracy Denned, Page 232, Vol. I.

KNOTT, JAMES PROCTOR —

Speech on " Duluth," Page 308, Vol. VI.

LEE, HENRY —

Eulogy on Washington, Page 358, Vol. I.

LINCOLN, ABRAHAM —

At Gettysburg, Page 147, Vol. V.

LIVINGSTON, ROBERT R. —

Oration before the Cincinnati, Page 270, Vol. I.

LODGE, HENRY C. —

Oration on Daniel Webster, Page 356, Vol. V.

LOGAN, JOHN A. —

On the Independence of Cuba, Page 103, Vol. IV.

LONG, JOHN D. —

Problems of the Future, page 307, Vol. V.

LOWELL, JAMES RUSSELL —

Oration at the 25oth Anniversary of the Founding of Har
vard College, Page 3, Vol. V.

8 CONTENTS.

MADISON, JAMES —

On the Expediency of Adopting the Federal Constitution,

Page 282, Vol. I.
Inaugural Address, Page 296, Vol. I.

MARSHALL, JOHN —

Speech on the Federal Constitution, Page 336, Vol. I.

McKiNLEY, WILLIAM —

Last Speech, Page 232, Vol. V.

MONROE, JAMES —

Federal Experiments in History, Page 33, Vol. II.

MOODY, DWIGHT L. —

What Think Ye of Christ ?, Page 119, Vol. VI.

MORRIS, GOUVERNEUR —

Speech on the Judiciary, Page 317, Vol. I.

NOTT, ELIPHALET —

"How are the Mighty Fallen," Page 308, Vol. II.

OTIS, HARRISON GRAY —

Eulogy on Alexander Hamilton, Page 87, Vol. II.

OTIS, JAMES —

Against "Writs of Assistance," Page 50, Vol. I.

PARKHURST, CHARLES H. —

Sermon on Gariield, Page 93, Vol. VI.

PAINE, THOMAS —

Speech in the French National Convention, Page 177, Vol. I.

PHELPS, EDWARD J. —

Farewell Address, Page 47, Vol. V.

PHELPS, WILLIAM WALTER —

Sound Currency, Page 315, Vol. V.

PHILLIPS, WENDELL —

The Murder of Lovejoy, Page 159, Vol. V.

PINKNEY, WILLIAM —

Speech for the Relief of the Oppressed Slaves, Page 78 1
Vol. II.

PORTER, HORACE —

The Triumph of American Invention, Page 16, Vol. VI.

POTTER, HENRY C. —

Memorial Discourse on Phillips Brooks, Page 73, Vol. VI.

QUINCY, JOSIAH —

On the Admission of Louisiana, Page 216, Vol. II.

QUINCY, JOSIAH, JR. —

Speech in Defense of the Soldiers, Page 239, Vol. I.

CONTENTS. 9

I

RANDOLPH, JOHN —

On Foreign Importations, Page 240, Vol. II.

RAYMOND, HENRY J. —

Speech on Reconstruction, Page 3, Vol. III.

RED JACKET —

Speech at Fort Stanwix, Page 301, Vol. I.
Defense of Stiff- Armed George, Page 306, Vol. I.
Reply to Mr. Cram, Page 312, Vol. I.

REED, THOMAS B.—

Address on National Issues, Page 321, Vol. V.

ROOSEVELT, THEODORE —

Speech Seconding the Nomination of McKinley, Page 243,
Vol. V.

Ross, JONATHAN —

The Nation's Relation to its Island Possessions, Page 277,.
Vol. VI.

RUTLEDGE, JOHN —

Speech to the General Assembly, Page 187, Vol. I.

SCHURZ, CARL —

The Policy of Imperialism, Page 145, Vol. IV.

SHERMAN, JOHN —

On Silver Coinage and Treasury Notes, Page 65, Vol. V.

SHERMAN, WILLIAM T. —

The Army and Navy, Page 26, Vol. V.

<v- STEVENS, THADDEUS —

Againts Webster and Northern Compromisers, Page 48,

Vol. IV.
The Issue Against Andrew Johnson, Page 59, Vol. IV.

STORY, JOSEPH —

Characteristics of the Age, Page 57, Vol. III.

SUMNER, CHARLES —

On the Crime Against Kansas, Page 171, Vol. V.

TECUMSEH —

Speech at Vincennes, Page 194, Vol. II.
Speech to General Proctor, Page 195, Vol. II.

TELLER, HENRY M. —

On Porto Rico, Page 299, Vol. VI.

TILDEN, SAMUEL J. —

Address on Administrative Reform, Page 226, Vol. V.

TWAIN, MARK —

NEW England Weather, Page 321, Vol. IV.

IO CONTENTS.

VANCE, ZEBULON B. —

The Slavery Question, Page 288, Vol. VI.

VEST, GEORGE G. —

On Indian Schools, Page 328, Vol. VI.

VOORHEES, DANIEL W. —

Defence of John E. Cook, Page 116, Vol. IV.
WARREN, JOSEPH —

Oration on the Boston Massacre, Page 215, Vol. I.

WASHINGTON, GEORGE —

First Inaugural Address, Page 59, Vol. I.
Farewell Address, Page 65, Vol. I.

WATTERSON, HENRY —

National Problems Discussed, Page 340, Vol. VI

WEBSTER, DANIEL —

The Reply to Hayne, Page 126, Vol. III.

Laying the Corner Stone of Bunker Hill Monument, Pa^e

233, Vol. III.

At Plymouth, in 1820, Page 260, Vol. III.
Adams and Jefferson, Page 264, Vol. III.

WHITE, ANDREW D. —

The Apostle of Peace Among the Nations, Page 26, Vol. VI.
WIRT, WILLIAM —

Speech in the Trial of Aaron Burr, Page 278, Vol. II.

LIST OF PORTRAITS.

VOLUME ONE —

Col. A. K. McClure, Frontispiece.
George Washington, Page 78.
Patrick Henry, Page 126.
J. C. Calhoun, Page 264.

VOLUME Two —

Abraham Lincoln, Frontispiece.
Edw. Everett, Page 90.
Charles Sumner, Page 196.
Jefferson Davis, Page 282.

VOLUME THREE —

Samuel Houston, Frontispiece.
William M. Evarts, Page 90.
Daniel Webster, Page 186.
Joseph H. Hawley, Page 330.

VOLUME FOUR —

William McKinley, Frontispiece.
Benjamin Harrison, Page 88.
James A. Garfield, Page 194.
Theodore Roosevelt, Page 280.

VOLUME FIVE —

James G. Elaine, Frontispiece.
Henry Watterson, Page 154.
William J. Bryan, Page 260.
Thomas B. Reed, Page 330.

VOLUME Six —

George F. Hoar, Frontispiece.
Joseph H. Choate, Page 90.
Horace Greeley, Page 170.
Grover Cleveland, Page 266.

EDITORIAL FOREWORD.

"Oratory," said Abraham Lincoln, "is the great
power that moves nations to do and dare; it was
oratory that wrecked Rome and made Christianity
live." None of our public men better understand
the power of oratory than did Lincoln, and he esti
mated it from its highest plane. He would not have
been a great orator in Rome when Roman people
were swayed by the impassioned eloquence of their
orators to deify to-day and crucify to-morrow, but
he was one of the greatest of American orators of
the rare type that always appeals to the considerate
judgment of mankind.

The power of the impassioned oratory that swayed
the ancients in the days of Demosthenes has been
impaired by the growing in culture and thoughtful-
ness of the people of all nations. There are occa
sions when it is yet most appropriate and impressive,
but they are rare. It at times asserts itself in great
trials in our courts of justice, but its impressions
speedily perish, unless they appeal to some enduring
human sympathy.

Senator Depew truthfully says, "Eloquence is
the master element in politics," but political oratory
in this country, like the political oratory of every
other civilized country of the world, has materially
changed in its most effective attributes. In the
days of Thomas Corwin of Ohio, and Sargent S.
Prentiss of Mississippi, the political orator was the
sole dependence of political parties. The news
paper was then a luxury and did not reach the masses
of the people. The "bustlings" was, therefore,

14 EDITORIAL FOREWORD.

the only medium by which the people could be
taught. Education was greatly circumscribed,
being accessible on a liberal scale only to the few,
and it was a period in the history of our country
that developed a class of orators and a type of
oratory, trained in all the arts of appealing to ignor
ance and prejudice, that has been gradually sup
planted by a much higher standard of disputation,
although often not so fascinating to a popular
assembly.

The orators of the early days of this country,
like the orators of Rome and Greece, had but one
great study, and that was to sway multitudes by
mingled eloquence, pathos, humor and invective.
Had Corwin or Prentiss delivered a sober address
on any great political occasion such as Abraham
Lincoln delivered to the Republican State Conven
tion of Illinois in 1858, when he was unanimously
nominated for United States Senator, such a deliv
erance would have fallen upon heedless ears and
entirely without responsive enthusiasm.

The newspaper that now reaches everywhere and
is the daily teacher in almost every home; the
school that, as a rule, is open and free to all regard
less of race or circumstances; the college that now
gathers its pupils from every section and class; the
railway that now peals out the hoarse music of the
iron horse over hill and valley in every part of the
country; the swift greyhounds of the ocean, which
annihilate space in great centers of sea travel, and
the multiplicity of books and libraries which reach
into almost every village and are thus brought
within the range of almost every household, have
advanced intelligence and thoughtfulness, and man
hood and womanhood, in our happy green land to
an extent that has largely shorn impassioned oratory
of its locks and measurably destroyed it as an agent
in the great wrork of teaching the American people.

EDITORIAL FOREWORD. 15

The impassioned oratory that in olden times was
solely relied upon to sway the multitude, has had a
full share in the wonderful advancement of the
American people. It is less potent now than half a
century or more ago, but it remains as an important
feature of oratory among all the people of the earth.
Patrick Henry gave the most exquisite illustration
of it that we have in our history. Others have
probably spoken as eloquently and as earnestly
as he did, but the theme that called out the burning
eloquence of Henry is one that enlists the sympathies
of all classes and conditions throughout our great
Republic, and must continue to do so while our free
institutions are maintained ; and every pupil of our
schools has been, is to-day and ever will be familiar
with his immortal utterance, "Give me liberty or
give me death ! ' '

But the impassioned oratory of Henry and others
never could have organized the great Revolution
and founded the noblest government of the world.
It required the sober utterances of the Adamses, of
Franklin, of Madison, of Marshall and others, to
appeal to the convictions of the people and unite
the colonies in the desperate effort to throw off the
English yoke.

None of -our many eminently distinguished pub
lic men equaled Henry Clay in the impassioned ora
tory that swayed the multitude, but Clay was much
more than a mere orator. His greatest oratorical
efforts were delivered in the Senate of the United
States, where he was one of the most skilful and
powerful of disputants. Webster was the most
forceful in argument of all our public men, but he
cultivated none of the arts of oratory. His manner
was as simple as the style of his expression, but he
stands out single and alone as the greatest intellect
ual force of American statesmanship. Clay swayed
audiences not only because he was generally the

1 6 EDITORIAL FOREWORD.

idol of his auditors, but because his utterances were
as forceful as they were charming, but Webster awed
the masses who heard him into reverence by his
ponderous intellectual mastery, and was greater
than Clay in the discussion of any abstruse legal or
political question before a judicial or deliberative
tribunal.

Elaine was the most magnetic of our great ora
tors since the reign of Clay. He was brilliant, sym
pathetic, audacious and when aroused, carried his
audience by storm, but he was not the greatest of
our political disputants, for the disputant and the
orator often essentially differ in attribute and
achievement. Conkling was grand, imperious and
cogent, and on every occasion that called out his
greater qualities his orations were most impressive
and well remembered. His nomination of Grant in
the Republican National Convention of 1880 will
ever be remembered by all who heard it, as long as
memory remains to them. It had all the elegant
polish of oratory, and would have been a most im
pressive deliverance to any assembly that was open
to deliberation on the subject of nominating the
President; but in that contest between Grant and
Blaine, it could be said of them as was once said of
Rome, that " Caesar had a party and Antony a party,
but Rome had none."

The most profoundly impressive speech I ever
heard was that of Robert G. Ingersoll nominating
Blaine for President in the Cincinnati convention of
1876. It was delivered to a convention a majority
of whose delegates were largely or measurably in
sympathy with Blaine, and its effect upon the assem
bled delegates was so great and so clearly visible,
that the opponents of Blaine were compelled to
resort to the most desperate measures to prevent a
ballot for President during the day.

Daniel Dougherty's speech nominating Hancock

EDITORIAL FOREWORD. 1 7

for President in the Democratic National Convention
of 1880, was one among the very best exhibitions we
have had of impassioned American oratory, and
while it was a more polished deliverance than that
of Ingersoll, it was simply a most exquisite oration,
exhibiting the highest art of oratory, but lacked the
rugged forcefulness of Ingersoll' s appeal for Elaine
or of Bourke Cockran's able and impressive protest
against the nomination of Cleveland in the National
Convention of 1892.

We have as great orators to-day as we have had
at any time in the past history of the Republic, but
conditions have vastly changed the relations be
tween orators and the masses during the last half
century. In oratory the mountains are just as tall
and imposing, but the valleys have largely filled up,
and the distance in point of intelligence between the
orator and the people has been vastly lessened.
The successful orator of to-day — the oratory that
sways public sentiment and leads the American peo
ple in ruling their own government, is not the im
passioned oratory that for centuries swayed the
world.

The attributes of oratory are just as necessary now
as they ever have been, but the aim and efforts of the
successful orator of to-day are to make themselves
convincing disputants with all the fascinating em
bellishments of oratory. The last generation devel
oped a number of distinguished orators of this type.
Douglass, Seymour, Hendricks, Thurman and others
were the most impressive Democratic orators of the
time, and Sherman, Curtis, Schurz, Morton, Carpenter
and others wTere among the most successful teachers
of Republicanism on the forum. In short, the
effective orator of this enlightened and progressive
age must be something more than a mere orator to
illustrate the power of oratory, and all our teachings

i8

EDITORIAL FOREWORD.

now tend to train American oratory to the highest
standard of grandeur and power.

The study of oratory, and of the great orations
alike of ancient and modern times, is vastly more
general to-day than at any time in the past history
of the civilized world, and I believe that this work
now presented to the public, intelligently covers
the great American orations. It contains the most
famous speeches of the leaders of all the varied
types of American orators, and there is no phase of
oratory that is not given in its very best attributes.
It is a work especially adapted to the students of
the present generation, old and young, and I know
of no work that the intelligent young student could
study with greater profit. As an educational work
it is, I believe, altogether the most valuable of our
publications which can be obtained at moderate
cost.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 1 9

Franklin, Benjamin, a distinguished American phi
losopher, statesman and diplomatist, born in Boston, Mass.,
Jan. 17, 1726; died in Philadelphia, April 17, 1790. He
learned the printer's trade in his youth, and removing to
Philadelphia at seventeen he there set up in business, pros
pered, and became one of the most influential men in the
colony and prominent in promoting all enterprises for the
public welfare. While deputy postmaster-general he or
ganized a working postal system for the colonies, and he was
twice sent to London by the colony of Pennsylvania as its
agent. He was a member of the committee which drafted
the Declaration of Independence, was one of the commis
sioners plenipotentiary to France, where he became the lion
of the hour, and signed the treaty of peace between the
United States and Great Britain in 1783. He also took an
active part in framing the National Constitution in 1787.
He was an eminently shrewd, far-sighted writer and speaker,
possessed of both tolerance and humor, and the characteris
tics of his style may be well perceived in his observations on
the Federal Constitution, and the Dangers of a Salaried
Bureaucracy.

THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION

DELIVERED IN THE CONVENTION FOR FORMING THE
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES,
PHILADELPHIA, 1787.

I CONFESS that I do not entirely approve of this Con
stitution at present ; but, sir, I am not sure I shall never
approve it, for, having lived long, I have experienced
many instances of being obliged, by better informa
tion or fuller consideration, to change opinions even
on important subjects, which I once thought right, but

2O BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

found to be otherwise. It is therefore that, the older I
grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment of
others. Most men, indeed, as well as most sects in re
ligion, think themselves in possession of all truth, and
ihat wherever others differ from them, it is so far error.
Steele, a Protestant, in a dedication, tells the Pope that
the only difference between our two churches in their
opinions of the certainty of their doctrine is, the Romish
Church is infallible, and the Church of England is never
in the wrong. But, though many private persons think
almost as highly of their own infallibility as that of
their sect, few express it so naturally as a certain
French lady, who, in a little dispute with her sister,
said : " But I meet with nobody but myself that is al
ways in the right."

In these sentiments, sir, I agree to this Constitution,
with all its faults — if they are such — because I think a
general government necessary for us, and there is no
form of government but what may be a blessing to the
people, if well administered ; and I believe further, that
this is likely to be well administered for a course of
years, and can only end in despotism, as other forms
have done before it, when the people sihall become so
corrupted as to need despotic government, being inca
pable of any other. I doubt, too, whether any other
convention we can obtain may be able to make a better
Constitution; for, when you assemble a number of
men, to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you
inevitably assemble with those men all their prejudices,
their passions, their errors of opinion, their local inter
ests, and their selfish views. From such an assembly
can a perfect production be expected ? It therefore as-

j

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 21

tonishes me, sir, to find this system approaching so
near to perfection as it does ; and I think it will aston
ish our enemies, who are waiting with confidence to
hear that our counsels are confounded like those of the
builders of Babel, and that our States are on the point
of separation, only to me*et hereafter for the purpose
of cutting one another's throats. Thus I consent, sir,
to this Constitution, because I expect no better, and
because I am not sure that it is not the best. The
opinions I have had of its errors I sacrifice to the pub
lic good. I have never whispered a syllable of them
abroad. Within these walls they were born, and here
they shall die. If every one of us, in returning to our
constituents, were to report the objections he has had
to it, and endeavor to gain partisans in support of them,
we might prevent its being generally received, and
thereby lose all the salutary effects and great advan
tages resulting naturally in our favor among foreign
nations, as well as among ourselves, from our real or
apparent unanimity. Much of the strength and effi
ciency of any government, in procuring and securing
happiness to the people, depends on opinion, on the
general opinion of the goodness of that government,
as well as of the wisdom and integrity of its governors.
I hope, therefore, for our own sakes, as a part of the
people, and for the sake of our posterity, that we shall
act heartily and unanimously in recommending this
Constitution wherever our influence may extend, and
turn our future thoughts and endeavors to the means
of having it well administered.

On the whole, sir, I cannot help expressing a wish
that every member of the convention who may still

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

have objection to it, would, with me, on this occasion,
doubt a little of his own infallibility, and, to make mani
fest our unanimity, put his name to this instrument.

DANGERS OF A SALARIED BUREAUCRACY

DELIVERED IN THE CONVENTION FOR FORMING THE
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES,
PHILADELPHIA, 1787.

IT is with reluctance that J rise to express a disap
probation of any one article of the plan for which we
are so much obliged to the honorable gentlemen who
laid it before us. From its first reading I have borne a
good will to it, and, in general, wished it success. In this
particular of salaries to the executive branch, I happen
to differ ; and, as my opinion may appear new and chi
merical, it is only from a persuasion that it is right, and
from a sense of duty, that I hazard it. The committee
will judge of my reasons when they have heard them,
and their judgment may possibly change mine. I think
I see inconveniences in the appointment of salaries; I
see none in refusing them, but, on the contrary, great
advantages.

Sir, there are two passions which have a powerful
influence in the affairs of men. These are ambition
and avarice; the love of power and the love of money.
Separately, each of these has great force in prompting
men to action; but, when united in view of the same
object, they have, in many mincls, the most violent ef
fects. Place before the eyes of such men a post of
honor, that shall, at the same time, be a place of profit,
and thev will move heaven and earth to obtain it. The

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 23

vast number of such places it is that renders the Brit
ish Government so tempestuous. The struggles for
them are the true source of all those factions which are
perpetually dividing the nation, distracting its councils,
hurrying it sometimes into fruitless and mischievous
wars, and often compelling a submission to dishonor
able terms of peace.

And of what kind are the men that will strive for
this profitable pre-eminence, through all the bustle of
cabal, the heat of contention, the infinite mutual abuse
of parties, tearing to pieces the best of characters ? It
will not be the wise and moderate, the lovers of peace
and good order, the men fittest for the trust. It will
be the bold and the violent, the men of strong passions
and indefatigable activity in their selfish pursuits.
These will thrust themselves into your government,
and be your rulers. And these, too, will be mistaken
in the expected happiness of their situation, for their
vanquished competitors, of the same spirit, and from
the same motives, will perpetually be endeavoring to
distress their administration, thwart their measures,
and render them odious to the people.

Besides these evils, sir, though we may set out in the
beginning with moderate salaries, we shall find that
such will not be of long continuance. Reasons will
never be wanting for proposed augmentations; and
there will always be a party for giving more to the
rulers, that the rulers may be able, in return, to give
more to them. Hence, as all history informs us, there
has been in every state and kingdom a constant kind
of warfare between the governing and the governed;
the one striving to obtain more for its support, and the

24 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

other to pay less. And this has alone occasioned great
convulsions, actual civil wars, ending either in dethron
ing of the princes or enslaving of the people. Gener
ally, indeed, the ruling power carries its point, and we
see the revenues of princes constantly increasing, and
we see that they are never satisfied, but always in want
of more. The more the people are discontented with
the oppression of taxes, the greater need the prince has
of money to distribute among his partisans, and pay
the troops that are to suppress all resistance, and en
able him to plunder at pleasure. There is scarce a king
in a hundred, who would not, if he could, follow the
example of Pharaoh — get first all the people's money,
then all their lands, and then make them and their
children servants forever. It will be said that we do
not propose to establish kings. I know it. But there
is a natural inclination in mankind to kingly govern
ment. It sometimes relieves them from aristocratic
domination. They had rather have one tyrant than
five hundred. It gives more of the appearance of
equality among citizens ; and that they like. I am ap
prehensive, therefore — perhaps too apprehensive — that
the government of the States may, in future times, end
in a monarchy. But this catastrophe, I think, may be
long delayed, if in our proposed system we do not sow
the seeds of contention, faction, and tumult, by making
our posts of honor places of profit. If we do, I fear
that, though we employ at first a number and not
a single person, the number will, in time, be set aside;
it will only nourish the foetus of a king (as the honor
able gentleman from Virginia very aptly expressed it),
and a king will the sooner be set over us.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 2$

It may be imagined by some that this is a Utopian
idea, and that we can never find men to serve us in the
executive department without paying them well for
their services. I conceive this to be a mistake. Some
existing fact present themselves to me which incline
me to a contrary opinion. The high sheriff of a
county in England is an honorable office, but it is not a
profitable one. It is rather expensive, and therefore
not sought for. But yet it is executed, and well exe
cuted, and usually by some of the principal gentlemen
of the county. In France, the office of counsellor, or
member of their judiciary parliament, is more honor
able. It is therefore purchased at a high price; there
are, indeed, fees on the law proceedings, which are
divided among them, but these fees do not amount to
more than three per cent on the sum paid for the place.
Therefore, as legal interest is there at five per cent,
they, in fact, pay two per cent for being allowed to do
the judiciary business of the nation, which is, at the
same time, entirely exempt from the burden of paying
them any salaries for their services. I do not, how
ever, mean to recommend this as an eligible mode for
our judiciary department. I only bring the instance
to show that the pleasure of doing good and serving
their country, and the respect such conduct entitles
them to, are sufficient motives with some minds to give
up a great portion of their time to the public, withou1*
the mean inducement of pecuniary satisfaction.

Another instance is that of a respectable society whc
have made the experiment and practiced it with succesr
now more than a hundred years. I mean the Quaker*
It is an established rule with them that they are not ttf

26 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

go to law, but in their controversies they must apply to
their monthly, quarterly, and yearly meetings. Com
mittees of these sit with patience to hear the parties,
and spehd much time in composing their differences.
In doing this, they are supported by a sense of duty
and the respect paid to usefulness. It is honorable to
be so employed, but it was never made profitable by
salaries, fees, or perquisites. And, indeed, in all cases
of public service, the less the profit, the greater the
honor.

To bring the matter nearer home, have we not seen
the greatest and most important of our offices, that of
general of our armies, executed for eight years to
gether, without the smallest salary, by a patriot whom
I will not now offend by any other praise ; and this,
through fatigues and distresses, in common with the
other brave men, his military friends and companions,
and the constant anxieties peculiar to his station?
And shall we doubt finding three or four men in all the
United States with public spirit enough to bear sitting
in peaceful council, for, perhaps, an equal term, merely
to preside over our civil concerns, and see that our laws
are duly executed ? Sir, I have a better opinion of our
country. I think we shall never be without a sufficient
number of wise and good men to undertake and exe
cute well and faithfully the office in question.

Sir, the saving of the salaries, that may at first be
proposed, is not an object with me. The subsequent
mischiefs of proposing them are what I apprehend.
And, therefore, it is that I move the amendment. If it
be not seconded or accepted, I must be contented with
the satisfaction of having delivered my opinion frankly
and done my duty.

SAMUEL ADAMS. 2/

Adams, Samuel, an American orator and patriot, born
in Boston, Mass., Sept. 27, 1722; died there Oct. 2, 1803.
At the beginning of the disputes between the colonies and
the mother country he was a tax collector in his native
town, and a well-known character in consequence. As the
troubles increased he took so active a part in fomenting
opposition to Great Britain that he was especially excluded
from General Gage's proclamation of amnesty in June, 1775.
He was a delegate to the Continental Congress, a Signer of
the Declaration of Independence, and a member of the con
vention ratifying the Constitution of Massachusetts. From
1794 to 1797 he was governor of that State. His oratory
was of the impetuous, fiery order, and more immediately
effective, therefore, than the more well-considered, tempered
utterances of some of his illustrious contemporaries. In his
famous speech on American Independence, which he deliv
ered in Philadelphia, Adams styled the English " a nation
of shopkeepers." As the oration was translated into
French and published in Paris it is extremely likely that
Napoleon was indebted to Samuel Adams for his use of the
famous phrase.

AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE.

Countrymen and Brethren :

I WOULD gladly have declined an honor to which I find
myself unequal. I have not the calmness and impar
tiality which the infinite importance of this occasion de
mands. I will not deny the charge of my enemies, that
resentment for the accumulated injuries of our country
and an ardor for her glory, rising to enthusiasm, may
deprive me of that accuracy of judgment and ex
pression which men of cooler passions may possess.
Let me beseech you, then, to hear me with caution,

28 SAMUEL ADAMS.

to examine your prejudice, and to correct the mistakes
into which I may be hurried by my zeal.

Truth loves an appeal to the common-sense of man
kind. Your unperverted understandings can best de
termine on subjects of a practical nature. The positions
and plans which are said to be above the comprehen
sion of the multitude may be always suspected .to be
visionary and fruitless. He who made all men hath
made the truths necessary to human happiness obvious
to all.

Our forefathers threw off the yoke of Popery in
religion ; for you is reserved the honor of levelling the
popery of politics. They opened the Bible to all, and
maintained the capacity of every man to judge for him
self in religion. Are we sufficient for the comprehen
sion of the sublimest spiritual truths, and unequal to
material and temporal ones?

Heaven has trusted us with the management of
things for eternity, and man denies us ability to judge
of the present, or to know from our feelings the ex
perience that will make us happy. :f You can dis
cern," they say, " objects distant and remote, but
cannot perceive those within your grasp. Let us have
the distribution of present goods, and cut out and man
age as you please the interests of futurity." This
day, I trust, the reign of political protestantism will
commence. We have explored the temple of royalty,
and found that the idol we have bowed down to has
eyes which see not, ears that hear not our prayers, and
a heart like the nether millstone. We have this day
restored the Sovereign to whom alone men ought to
be obedient. He reigns in heaven, and with a propi-

SAMUEL ADAMS. 2()

tious eye beholds his subjects assuming that freedom
of thought and dignity of self-direction which he be
stowed on them. From the rising to the setting sun
may his kingdom come !

Having been a slave to the influence of opinion early
acquired, and distinctions generally received,! am ever
inclined not to despise but pity those who are yet in
darkness. But to the eye of reason what can be more
clear than that all men have an equal right to happi
ness? Nature made no other distinction than that of
higher and lower degrees of power of mind and body.
But what mysterious distribution of character has the
craft of statesmen, more fatal than priestcraft, in
troduced ?

According to their doctrine, the offspring of per
haps the lewd embraces of a successful invader shall,
from generation to generation, arrogate the right of
lavishing on their pleasures a proportion of the fruits
of the earth, more than sufficient to supply the wants
of thousands of their fellow-creatures ; claim authority
to manage them like beasts of burden, and, with su
perior industry, capacity, or virtue, nay, though dis
graceful to humanity, by their ignorance, intemper
ance, and brutality, shall be deemed best calculated to
frame laws and to consult for the welfare of society.

Were the talents and virtues which Heaven has be
stowed on men given merely to make them more
obedient drudges, to be sacrificed to the follies and am
bition of a few? Or, were not the noble gifts so
equally dispensed with a divine purpose and law,
that they should as nearly as possible be equally
exerted, and the blessings of Providence be equally
enjoyed by all? Away, then, with those ab-

3O SAMUEL ADAMS.

surd systems which to gratify the pride of
a few debase the greater part of our species
below the order of men. What an affront to the King
of the universe, to maintain that the happiness of a
monster, sunk in debauchery and spreading desolation
and murder among men, of a Caligula, a Nero, or a
Charles, is more precious in his sight than that of mil
lions of his suppliant creatures, who do justice, love
mercy, and walk humbly with their God ! No, in the
judgment of Heaven there is no other superiority
among men than a superiority in wisdom and virtue.
And can we have a safer model in forming ours?
The Deity, then, has not given any order or family of
men authority over others ; and if any men have given
it, they only could give it for themselves. Our fore
fathers, 'tis said, consented to be subject to the laws
of Great Britain. I will not, at present, dispute it,
nor mark out the limits and conditions of their sub
mission; but will it be denied that they contracted to
pay obedience and to be under the control of Great
Britain because it appeared to them most beneficial
in their then present circumstances and situations?
We, my countrymen, have the same right to consult
and provide for our happiness which they had to pro
mote theirs. If they had a view to posterity in their
contracts, it must have been to advance the felicity of
their descendants. If they erred in their expectations
and prospects, we can never be condemned for a con
duct which they would have recommended , had they
foreseen our present condition.

Ye darkeners of counsel, who would make the prop
erty, lives, and religion of millions depend on the

SAMUEL ADAMS. 31

evasive interpretations of musty parchments; who
would send us to antiquated charters of uncertain and
contradictory meaning, to prove that the present gen
eration are not bound to be victims to cruel and un
forgiving despotism, tell us whether our pious and
generous ancestors bequeathed to us the miserable
privilege of having the rewards of our honesty, indus
try, the fruits of those fields which they purchased and
bled for, wrested from us at the will of men over
whom we have no check. Did they contract for us
that, with folded arms, we should expect that justice
and mercy from brutal and inflamed invaders which
have been denied to our supplications at the foot of
the throne ? Were we to hear our character as a peo
ple ridiculed with indifference ? Did they promise for
us that our meekness and patience should be insulted ;
our coasts harassed, our towns demolished and plun
dered, and our wives and offspring exposed to naked
ness, hunger, and death, without our feeling the re
sentment of men, and exerting those powers of self-
preservation which God has given us? No man had
once a greater veneration for Englishmen than I en
tertained. They were dear to me as branches of the
same parental trunk, and partakers of the same re
ligion and laws; I still view writh respect the remains
of the Constitution as I would a lifeless body which
had once been animated by a great and heroic soul.
But when I am aroused by the din of arms ; when I be
hold legions of foreign assassins, paid by Englishmen
to imbrue their hands in our blood ; when I tread over
the uncoffined bodies of my countrymen, neighbors,
and friends ; when I see the locks of a venerable father

32 SAMUEL ADAMS.

torn by savage hands, and a feeble mother, clasping
her infants to her bosom, and on her knees imploring
their lives from her own slaves, whom Englishmen
have allured to treachery and murder; when I behold
my country, once the seat of industry, peace, and
plenty, changed by Englishmen to a theatre of blood
and misery, Heaven forgive me if I cannot root out
those passions which it has implanted in my bosom,
and detest submission to a people who have either
ceased to be human, or have not virtue enough to feel
their own wretchedness and servitude!

Men who content themselves with the semblance of
truth, and a display of words, talk much of our obliga
tions to Great Britain for protection. Had she a sin
gle eye to our advantage? A nation of shopkeepers
are very seldom so disinterested. Let us not be
so amused with words ; the extension of her commerce
was her object. When she defended our coasts, she
fought for her customers, and convoyed our ships
loaded with wealth, which we had acquired for her by
our industry. She has treated us as beasts of burden
whom the lordly masters cherish that they may carry
a greater load. Let us inquire also against whom she
has protected us? Against her own enemies with
whom we had no quarrel, or only on her account, and
against whom we always readily exerted our wealth
and strength when they were required. Were these
colonies backward in giving assistance to Great Brit
ain, when they were called upon in 1739 to aid the
expedition against Carthagena? They at that time
sent three thousand men to join the British army,
although the war commenced without their consent

SAMUEL ADAMS. 33

But the last war, 'tis said, was purely American. This
is a vulgar error, which, like many others, has gained
credit by being confidently repeated. The dispute
between the courts of Great Britain and France re
lated to the limits of Canada and Nova Scotia. The
controverted territory was not claimed by any in the
colonies, but by the crown of Great Britain. It was
therefore their own quarrel. The infringement of a
right which England had, by the treaty of Utrecht,
of trading in the Indian country of Ohio, was another
cause of the war. The French seized large quantities
of British manufactures and took possession of a fort
which a company of British merchants and factors had
erected for the security of their commerce. The
war was therefore waged in defence of lands claimed
by the crown, and for the protection of British proper
ty. The French at that time had no quarrel with
America, and, as appears by letters sent by their com-
mander-in-chief to some of the colonies, wished to re
main in peace with us. The part therefore, which we
then took, and the miseries to which we exposed our
selves, ought to be charged to our affection to Britain.
These colonies granted more than their proportion
to the support of the war. They raised, clothed, and
maintained nearly twenty-five thousand men, and so
sensible were the people of England of our great exer
tions, that a message was annually Sent to the House
of Commons purporting, " that his Majesty, being
highly satisfied with the zeal and vigor with .which his
faithful subjects in North America had exerted them
selves in defence of his Majesty's just rights and pos
sessions, recommends it to the House to take the same

34 SAMUEL ADAMS.

into consideration, and enable him to give them a
proper compensation."

But what purpose can arguments of this kind an
swer? Did the protection we received annul our
rights as men, and lay us under an obligation of being
miserable ?

Who among you, my countrymen, that is a father,
would claim authority to make your child a slave be
cause you had nourished him in infancy ?

Tis a strange species of generosity which requires
a return infinitely more valuable than anything it
could have bestowed; that demands as a reward for
a defence of our property a surrender of those inesti
mable privileges to the arbitrary will of vindictive
tyrants, which alone give value to that very property.

Political right and public happiness are different
words for the same idea. They who wander into
metaphysical labyrinths, or have recourse to original
contracts, to determine the rights of men, either im
pose on themselves or mean to delude others. Pub
lic utility is the only certain criterion. It is the test
wrhich brings disputes to a speedy decision, and makes
its appeal to the feelings of mankind. The force of
truth has obliged men to use arguments drawn from
this principle who were combating it, in practice and
speculation. The advocates for a despotic government
and non-resistance to the magistrate employ reasons
in favor of their systems drawn from a consideration
of their tendency to promote public happiness.

The Author of Nature directs all his operations
to the production of the greatest good, and has made
human virtue to consist in a disposition and conduct

SAMUEL ADAMS. 3$

which tends to the common felicity of his creatures.
An abridgement of the natural freedom of men, by the
institutions of political societies, is vindicable only on
this foot. How absurd, then, is it to draw arguments
from the nature of civil society for the annihilation
of those very ends which society was intended to pro
cure! Men associate for their mutual advantage.
Hence, the good and happiness of the members, that
is, a majority of the members, of any State, is the great
standard by which everything relating to that State
must finally be determined; and though it may be
supposed that a body of people may be bound by a
voluntary resignation (which they have been so in
fatuated as to make) of all their interests to a single
person, or to a few, it can never be conceived that the
resignation is obligatory to their posterity; because it
is manifestly contrary to the good of the whole that
it should be so.

These are the sentiments of the wisest and most
virtuous champions of freedom. Attend to a portion
on this subject from a book in our own defence, writ
ten, I had almost said, by the pen of inspiration. " I
lay no stress," says he, " on charters ; they derive their
rights from a higher source. It is inconsistent with
common-sense to imagine that any people would ever
think of settling in a distant country on any such con
dition, or that the people from whom they withdrew
should forever be masters of their property, and have
power to subject them to any modes of government
they pleased. And had there been expressed stipula
tions to this purpose in all the charters of the colonies,

they would, in my opinion, be no more bound by them,
2-1

36 SAMUEL ADAMS.

than if it had been stipulated with them that they
should go naked, or expose themselves to the incur
sions of wolves and tigers."

Such are the opinions of every virtuous and en
lightened patriot in Great Britain. Their petition to
Heaven is, " That there may be one free country left
upon earth, to which they may fly, when venality,
luxury, and vice shall have completed the ruin of lib
erty there."

Courage, then, my countrymen, our contest is not
only whether we ourselves shall be free, but whether
there shall be left to mankind an asylum on earth for
civil and religious liberty. Dismissing, therefore,
the justice of our cause, as incontestable, the only
question is, What is best for us to pursue in our pres
ent circumstances?

The doctrine of dependence on Great Britain is, I
believe, generally exploded; but as I would attend to
the honest weakness of the simplest of men, you will
pardon me if I offer a few words on that subject.

We are now on this continent, to the astonishment
of the world, three millions of souls united in one
cause. We have large armies, well disciplined and
appointed, with commanders inferior to none in mili
tary skill, and superior in activity and zeal. We are
furnished with arsenals and stores beyond our most
sanguine expectations, and foreign nations are waiting
to crown our success by their alliances. There are in
stances of, I would say, an almost astonishing Provi
dence in our favor; our success has staggered our
enemies, and almost given faith to infidels; so we may
truly say it is not our own arm which has saved us.

SAMUEL ADAMS. 37

The hand of Heaven appears to have led us on to
be, perhaps, humble instruments and means in the
great Providential dispensation which is completing-.
We have fled from the political Sodom; let us not
look back, lest we perish and become a monument of
infamy and derision to the world. For can we ever
expect more unanimity and a better preparation for de
fence; more infatuation of counsel among our ene
mies, and more valor and zeal among ourselves? The
same force and resistance which are sufficient to pro
cure us our liberties will secure us a glorious indepen
dence and support us in the dignity of free, im
perial States. We canrrot suppose that our opposi
tion has made a corrupt and dissipated nation more
friendly to America, or created in them a greater re
spect for the rights of mankind. We can therefore
expect a restoration and establishment of our privi
leges, and a compensation for the injuries we have
received from their want of power, from their fears,
and not from their virtues. The unanimity and valcr
which will effect an honorable peace can render a fu
ture contest for our liberties unriecessary. He who
has strength to chain down the wolf is a madman if
he let him loose without drawing his teeth and paring
his nails.

From the day on which an accommodation takes
place between England and America, on any other
terms than as independent States, I shall date the ruin
of this country. A politic minister will study to lull
us into security, by granting us the full extent of our
petitions. The warm sunshine of influence would melt
down the virtue, which the violence of the storm

38 SAMUEL ADAMS.

rendered more firm and unyielding. In a state of tran
quillity, wealth, and luxury, our descendants would
forget the arts of war and the noble activity and zeal
which made their ancestors invincible. Every art of
corruption would be employed to loosen the bond of
union which renders 'our resistance formidable. When
the spirit of liberty which now animates -our hearts
and gives success to our arms is extinct, our numbers
will accelerate our ruin and render us easier victims
to tyranny. Ye abandoned minions of an infatuated
Ministry, if peradventure any should yet remain
among us, remember that a Warren and Montgomery
are numbered among the dead. Contemplate the
mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say,
What should be the reward of such sacrifices? Bid
ns and our posterity bow the knee, supplicate the
friendship, and plow, and sow, and reap, to glut the
avarice of the men who have let loose on us the dogs
of war to riot in our blood and hunt us from the face
of the earth? If ye love wealth better than liberty,
the tranquillity of servitude than the animating con
test of freedom — go from us in peace. We ask not
your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the
hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly
upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our
countrymen !

To unite the supremacy of Great Britain and the lib
erty of America is utterly impossible. So vast a con
tinent, and of such a distance from the seat of empire,
will every day grow more unmanageable. The motion
of so unwieldy a body cannot be directed with any
•despatch and uniformity without committing to the

SAMUEL ADAMS. 39

Parliament of Great Britain powers inconsistent with
our freedom. The authority and .force which would
be absolutely necessary for the preservation of the
peace and good order of this continent would put all
our valuable rights within the reach of that nation.

As the administration of government requires
firmer and more numerous supports in proportion to
its extent, the burdens imposed on us would be. exces
sive, and we should have the melancholy prospect of
their increasing on our posterity. The scale of officers,
from the rapacious and needy commissioner to the
haughty governor, and from the governor, with his
hungry train, to perhaps a licentious and prodigal
viceroy, must be upheld by you and your children.
The fleets and armies which will be employed to si
lence your murmurs and complaints must be supported
by the fruits of your industry.

And yet with all this enlargement of the expense
and powers of government, the administration of it
at such a distance, and over so extensive a terri
tory, must necessarily fail of putting the laws into
vigorous execution, removing private oppressions, and
forming plans for the advancement of agriculture and
commerce, and preserving the vast empire in any tol
erable peace and security. If our posterity retain any
spark of patriotism, they can never tamely submit to
such burdens. This country will be made the field of
bloody contention till it gain that independence for
which nature formed it. It is, therefore, injustice and
cruelty to our offspring, and would stamp us with the
character of baseness and cowardice, to leave the sal-

4O SAMUEL ADAMS.

vation of this country to be worked out by them with
accumulated difficulty and danger.

Prejudice, I confess, may warp our judgments.
Let us hear the decision of Englishmen on this subject,
who cannot be suspected of partiality. " The Ameri
cans," they say, " are but little short of half our num
ber. To this number they have grown from a small
body of original settlers by a very rapid increase. The
probability is that they will go on to increase, and that
in fifty or sixty years they will be double our number,
and form a mighty empire, consisting of a variety of
States, all equal or superior to ourselves in all the arts
and accomplishments which give dignity and happiness
to human life. In that period will they be still bound to
acknowledge that supremacy over them which we now
claim? Can there be any person who will assert this,
or whose mind does not revolt at the idea of a vast
continent holding all that is valuable to it at the dis
cretion of a handful of people on the other side of the
Atlantic? But if at that period this would be unreas
onable, what makes it otherwise now? Draw the line
if you can. But there is still a greater difficulty."

Britain is now, I will suppose, the seat of liberty and
virtue, and its legislature consists of a body of able
and independent men, who govern with wisdom and
justice. The time may come when all will be
reversed; when its excellent constitution of govern
ment will be subverted; when, pressed by debts and
taxes, it will be greedy to draw to itself an increase of
revenue from every distant province, in order to ease
its own burdens; when the influence of the crown,
strengthened by luxury and a universal profligacy of

SAMUEL ADAMS. 4!

manners, will have tainted every heart, broken down
every fence of liberty, and rendered us a nation of tame
and contented vassals; when a general election will
be nothing but a general auction of boroughs, and
when the Parliament, the grand council of the nation,
and once the faithful guardian of the State, and a ter
ror to evil ministers, will be degenerated into a body
of sycophants, dependent and venal, always ready to
confirm any measures, and little more than a public
court for registering royal edicts. Such, it is possi
ble, may, some time or other, be the state of Great
Britain. What will, at that period, be the duty of the
colonies? Will they be still bound to unconditional
submission? Must they always continue an appen
dage to our government and follow it implicitly
through every change that can happen to it?
Wretched condition, indeed, of millions of freemen
as good as ourselves ! Will you say that we now gov
ern equitably, and that there is no danger of such revo
lution ? Would to God that this were true ! But you
will not always say the same. Who shall judge
whether we govern equitably or not? Can you give
the colonies any security that such a period will never
come? No. The period, countrymen, is already
come! The calamities were at our door. The rod
of oppression was raised ever us. We were roused
from our slumbers, and' may we never sink into repose
until we can convey a clear and undisputed inheritance
to our posterity ! This clay we are called upon to give
a glorious example of what the wisest and best of men
were rejoiced to view, only in speculation. This day
presents the world with the most august spectacle

42 SAMUEL ADAMS.

that its annals ever unfolded — millions of freemen,
deliberately and voluntarily forming themselves into
a society for their common defence and common hap
piness. Immortal spirits of Llampden, Locke, and
Sidney, will it not add to your benevolent joys to be
hold your posterity rising to the dignity of men, and
evincing to the world the reality and expediency of
your systems, and in the actual enjoyment of that equal
liberty, which you were happy, when on earth, in de
lineating and recommending to mankind?

Other nations have received their laws from con
querors; some are indebted for a constitution to the
suffering of their ancestors through revolving cen
turies. The people of this country, alone, have for
mally and deliberately chosen a government for them
selves, and with open and uninfluenced consent bound
themselves into a social compact. Here no man pro
claims his. berth of wealth as a title to honorable dis
tinction, or to sanctify ignorance and vice with the
name of hereditary authority. He who has most zeal
and ability to promote public felicity let him be the
servant of the public. This is the only line of dis
tinction drawn by nature. Leave the bird of night
to the obscurity for which nature intended him, and
expect only from the eagle to brush the clouds with
his wings and look boldly in the face of the sun.

Some who would persuade us that they have tender
feelings for future generations, while they are insen
sible to the happiness of the present are perpetually
foreboding a train of dissensions under our popular
system. Such men's reasoning amounts to this : Give
up all that is valuable to Great Britain and then you

SAMUEL ADAMS. 43

will have no inducements to quarrel among yourselves ;
or, suffer yourselves to be chained down by your ene
mies that you may not be able to fight with your
friends.

This is an insult on your virtue as well as your
common-sense. Your unanimity this day and through
the course of the war is a decisive refutation of such
invidious predictions. Our enemies have already had
evidence that our present Constitution contains in it
the justice and ardor of freedom and the wisdom and
vigor of the most absolute system.

When the law is the will of the people, it will be
uniform and coherent; but fluctuation, contradiction,
and inconsistency of councils must be expected under
those governments where every revolution in the min
istry of a court produces one in the State — such being
the folly and pride of all ministers, that they ever pur
sue measures direcily opposite to those of their pre
decessors.

We shall neither be exposed to the necessary con
vulsions of elective monarchies, nor to the want of
wisdom, fortitude, and virtue, to which hereditary suc
cession is liable. In your hands it will be to perpetu
ate a prudent, active, and just legislature, and which
will never expire until you yourselves lose the virtues,
which gave it existence.

And, brethren and fellow-countrymen, if it was ever
granted to mortals to trace the designs of Providence,,
and interpret its manifestations in favor of their cause,
we may, with humility of soul, cry out, " Not unto us,
not unto us, but to thy Name be the praise ! " The
confusion of the devices among our enemies, and the

44 SAMUEL ADAMS.

rage of the elements against them, have done almost
.as much toward our success as either our councils or
our arms.

The time at which this attempt on our liberty was
made, when we were ripened into maturity, had ac
quired a knowledge of war, and were free from the in
cursions of enemies in this country; the gradual ad
vances of our oppressors enabling us to prepare for our
defence; the unusual fertility of our lands and clemency
of the seasons ; the success which at first attended onr
feeble arms, producing unanimity among our friends
and reducing our internal foes to acquiescence — these
,are all strong and palpable marks and assurances that
Providence is yet gracious unto Zion, that it will turn
:away the captivity of Jacob.

Our glorious reformers when they broke through
the fetters of superstition effected more than could be
expected from an age so darkened. But they left
much to be done by their posterity. They lopped off,
indeed, some of the branches of Popery, but they left
the root and stock when they left us under the domi
nation of human systems and decisions, usurping the
infallibility which can be attributed to Revelation
alone. They dethroned one usurper only to raise up
another; they refused allegiance to the Pope only to
place the civil magistrate in the throne of Christ,
vested with authority to enact laws and inflict penal
ties in his kingdom. And if we now cast our eyes
over the nations of the earth, we shall find that, in
stead of possessing the pure religion of the Gospel,
they may be divided either into infidels, who deny the
-truth ; or politicians who make religion a stalking horse

SAMUEL ADAMS. 45

for their ambition; or professors, who walk in the
trammels of orthodoxy, and are more attentive to tra
ditions and ordinances of men th'an to the oracles of
truth.

The civil magistrate has everywhere contaminated
religion by making it an engine of policy ; and freedom
of thought and the right of private judgment, in mat
ters of conscience, driven from every other corner of
the earth, direct their course to this happy country as
their last asylum. Let us cherish the noble guests,
and shelter them under the wings of a universal tolera
tion! Be this the seat of unbounded religious free
dom. She will bring with her, in her train, industry,
wisdom, and commerce. She thrives most when left
to shoot forth in her natural luxuriance, and asks for
human policy only not to be checked in her growth by
artificial encouragements.

Thus, by the beneficence of Providence, we shall be
hold our empire arising, founded on justice and the
voluntary consent of the people, and giving full scope
to the exercise of those faculties and rights which most
ennoble our species. Besides the advantages of liber
ty and the most equal Constitution, Heaven has given
us a country with every variety of climate and soil,
pouring forth in abundance whatever is necessary for
the support, comfort, and strength of a nation. With
in our own borders we possess all the means of sus
tenance, defence and commerce; at the same time,
these advantages are so distributed among the differ
ent States of this continent, as if nature had in view
to proclaim to us : Be united among yourselves and you
will want nothing from the rest of the world.

46 SAMUEL ADAMS.

The more northern States most amply supply us
with every necessary, and many of the luxuries of life ;
with iron, timber, and masts for ships of commerce
or of war; with flax for the manufacture of linen,
and seed either for oil or exportation.

So abundant are our harvests, that almost every
part raises more than double the quantity of grain
requisite for the support of the inhabitants. From
Georgia and the Carolinas we have, as well for our
own wants as- for the purpose of supplying the wants of
other powers, indigo, rice, hemp, naval stores, and
lumber.

Virginia and Maryland teem with wheat, Indian
corn, and tobacco. Every nation whose harvest is
precarious, or whose lands yield not those commodi
ties which we cultivate, will gladly exchange their
superfluities and manufactures for ours.

We have already received many and large cargoes
of clothing, military stores, etc., from our commerce
with foreign powers, and, in spite of the efforts of the
boasted navy of England, we shall continue to profit
by this connection.

The want of our naval stores has already increased
the price of these articles to a great height, especially
in Britain. Without our lumber, it will be impossible
for those haughty islanders to convey the products of
the West Indies to their own ports; for awhile they
may with difficulty effect it, but, without our assist
ance, their resources soon must fail. Indeed, the West
India Islands appear as the necessary appendages to
this our empire. They must owe their support to it,
and erelong, I doubt not, some of them will, from

SAMUEL ADAMS. 4/

necessity, wish to enjoy the benefit of our protec
tion.

These natural advantages will enable us to remain
independent of the world, or make it the interest of
European powers to court our alliance, and aid in pro
tecting us against the invasion of others. What argu
ment, therefore, do we want to show the equity of
our conduct ; or motive of interest to recommend it to
our prudence? Nature points out the path, and our
enemies have obliged us to pursue it.

If there is any man so base or so weak as to prefer
a dependence on Great Britain to the dignity and hap
piness of living a member of a free and independent
nation, let me tell him that necessity now demands
what the generous principle of patriotism should have
dictated.

We have no other alternative than independence, or
the most ignominious and galling servitude. The
legions of our enemies thicken on our plains; desola
tion and death mark their bloody career; while the
mangled corpses of our countrymen seem to cry out
to us as a voice from heaven :

" Will you permit our posterity to groan under the
galling chains of our murderers? Has our blood
been expended in vain ? Is the only benefit which our
constancy till death has obtained for our country, that
it should be sunk into a deeper and more ignominious
vassalage? Recollect who are the men that demand
your submission, to whose decrees you are invited to
pay obedience. Men who, unmindful of their rela
tion to you as brethren; of your long implicit sub
mission to their laws; of the sacrifice which you and

48 SAMUEL ADAMS.

your forefathers made of your natural advantages
for commerce to their avarice ; formed a deliberate plan
to -wrest from you the small pittance of property which
they had permitted you to acquire. Remember that
the men who wish to rule over you are they who, in
pursuit of this plan of despotism, annulled the sacred
contracts which they had made with your ancestors;
conveyed into your cities a mercenary soldiery to com
pel you to submission by insult and murder; who
called your patience cowardice, your piety hypocrisy/7

Countrymen, the men who now invite you to sur
render your rights into their hands are the men who
have let loose the merciless savages to riot in the blood
of their brethren ; who have dared to establish Popery
triumphant in our land ; who have taught treachery to
your slaves, and courted them to assassinate your
wives and children.

These are the men to whom we are exhorted to
sacrifice the blessings which Providence holds out to
us; the happiness, the dignity, of uncontrolled free
dom and independence.

Let not your generous indignation be directed
against any among us who may advise so absurd and
maddening a measure. Their number is but few, and
daily decreases; and the spirit which can render them
patient of slavery will render them contemptible ene
mies.

Our union is now complete; our Constitution com
posed, established and approved. You are now the
guardians of your own liberties. We may justly ad
dress you, as the decemviri did the Romans, and say,
*' Nothing that we propose can pass into a law without

SAMUEL ADAMS. 49

your consent. Be yourselves, O Americans, the au
thors of those laws on which your happiness depends."
You have now in the field armies sufficient to repel
the whole force of your enemies and their base and
mercenary auxiliaries. The hearts of your soldiers
beat high with the spirit of freedom; they are ani
mated with the justice of their cause, and while they
grasp their swords can look up to Heaven for assis
tance. Your adversaries are composed of wretches
who laugh at the rights of humanity, who turn re
ligion into derision, and would, for higher wages,
direct their swords against their leaders or their
country. Go on, then, in your generous enterprise
with gratitude to Heaven for past success, and confi
dence of it in the future. For my own part, I ask no
greater blessing than to share with you the common
danger and common glory. If I have a wish dearer
to my soul than that my ashes may be mingled with
those of a Warren and Montgomery, it is that these
American States may never cease to be free and inde
pendent.
4

5O OTIS.

Otis, James, a famous American orator and patriot, born
at West Barnstable, Mass, February 5, 1725, died at Andover,
Mass, May 23, 1783. He was an ardent lover of liberty,
and in 1761 came into general notice by his eloquent plead
ing against the " Writs of Assistance " which the officers
of the customs had applied for. Continuing active in his re
sistance to oppression he was largely instrumental in causing
the Stamp Act Congress to be called in 1765. Threatened
with arrest for his bold course he, yet remained constant in
his support of the principles of liberty and in 1767 resigned
his office of judge advocate and renounced all government
employment. His oratory was of a passionate strain and
his vehemence more than once harmed the cause he had at
heart. As the result of an assault upon him in 1769 the
remainder of his career was passed under a mental cloud.

AGAINST " WRITS OF ASSISTANCE."

SPEECH DELIVERED BEFORE THE SUPERIOR COURT IN
BOSTON, FEBRUARY, 1761.

MAY it please your honors, I was desired by one of
the court to look into the books, and consider the ques
tion now before them concerning Writs of Assistance.
I have, accordingly, considered it, and now appear not
only in obedience to your order, but likewise in behalf
of the inhabitants of this town, who have presented
another petition, and out of regard to the liberties of
the subject. And I take this opportunity to declare
that, whether under a fee or not (for in such a cause
as this I despise a fee), I will to my dying day oppose
with all the powers and faculties Gc-d has given me

OTIS. 51

all such instruments of slavery on the one hand, and
villainy on the other, as this writ of assistance is.

It appears to me the worst instrument of arbitrary
power, the most destructive of English liberty and the
fundamental principles of law, that ever was found in
an English law book. I must, therefore, beg your
honors' patience and attention to the whole range of
an argument, that may, perhaps, appear uncommon in
many things, as well as to points of learning that are
more remote and unusual ; that the whole tendency of
my design may the mere easily be perceived, the con
clusions better descend, and the force of them be bet
ter felt. I shall not think much of my pains in this
cause, as I engaged in it from principle. I was so
licited to argue this cause as Advocate-General; and
because I would not, I have been charged with deser
tion from my office. To this charge I can give a very
sufficient answer. I renounced that office, and I argue
this cause from the same principle ; and I argue it with
the greater pleasure, as it is in favor of British liberty,
at a time when we hear the greatest monarch upon
earth declaring from his throne that he glories in the
name of Briton, and that the privileges of his people
are dearer to him than the most valuable prerogatives
of his crown; and as it is in opposition to a kind of
power, the exercise of which, in former periods of his
tory, cost one king of England his head and another
his throne. I have taken more pains in this cause than
I ever will take again, although my engaging in this
and another popular cause has raised much resentment.
But I think I can sincerely declare that I cheer
fully submit myself to every odious name for con-

52 OTIS.

science' sake; and from my soul I despise all those
whose guilt, malice, or folly has made them my foes.
Let the consequences be what they will, I am deter
mined to proceed. The only principles of public con
duct that are worthy of a gentleman or a man are to
sacrifice estate, ease, health, and applause, and even
life, to the sacred calls of his country.

These manly sentiments, in private life, make the
good citizen; in public life, the patriot and the hero,
I do not say that when brought to the test, I shall be
invincible. I pray God I may never be brought to the
melancholy trial; but if ever I should, it will be then
known how far I can reduce to practice principles
which I know to be founded in truth. In the mean
time I will proceed to the subject of this writ.

Your honors will find in the old books concerning
the office of a justice of the peace precedents of gen
eral warrants to search suspected houses. But in more
modern books, you will find only special warrants to
search such and such houses, specially named, in which
the complainant has before sworn that he suspects
his goods are concealed; and will find it adjudged that
special warrants only are legal. In the same manner
I rely on it, that the writ prayed for in this petition,
being general, is illegal. It is a power that places the
liberty of every man in the hands of every petty officer.
I say I admit that special writs of assistance, to search
special places, may be granted to certain persons on
oath ; but I deny that the writ now prayed for can be
granted, for I beg leave to make some observations on
the writ itself before I proceed to other acts of Parlia
ment. In the first place the writ is universal, being

OTIS. 53

directed " to all and singular justices, sheriffs, consta
bles, and all other officers and subjects"; so, that, in
short, it is directed to every subject in the king's do
minions. Every one with this writ may be a tyrant;
if this commission be legal, a tyrant in a legal manner,
also, may control, imprison, or murder any one within
the realm. In the next place, it is perpetual ; there is
no return. A man is accountable to no person for his
doings. Every man may reign secure in his petty
tyranny, and spread terror and desolation around him,
until the trump of the archangel shall excite different
emotions in his soul. In the third place, a person
with this writ, in the daytime, may enter all houses,
sihops, etc., at will, and command all to assist him.
Fourthly, by this writ, not only deputies, etc., but even
their menial servants, are allowed to lord it over us.
What is this but to have the curse of Canaan with a
witness on us ; to be the servant of servants, the most
despicable of God's creation? Now one of the most
essential branches of English liberty is the freedom of
one's house. A man's house is his castle ; and while
he is quiet, he is as well guarded as a prince in his
castle. This writ, if it should be declared legal,
would totally annihilate this privilege. Custom
house officers may enter our houses when they please;
we are commanded to permit their entry. Their
menial servants may enter, may break locks, bars,
and everything in their way; and whether they break
through malice or revenge, no man, no court can in
quire. Bare suspicion without oath is sufficient. This
wanton exercise of this power is not a chimerical sug
gestion of a heated brain. I will mention some facts.

54 OTIS.

Mr. Pew had one of these writs, and when Mr. Ware
succeeded him, he indorsed this writ over to Mr.
Ware ; so that these writs are negotiable from one offi
cer to another ; and so your honors have no opportunity
of judging the persons to whom this vast power is
delegated. Another instance is this : Mr. Justice Wai-
ley had called this same Mr. Ware before him, by a
constable, to answer for a breach of the Sabbath day
acts, or that of profane swearing. As soon as he had
finished Mr. Ware asked him if he had done. He re
plied : " Yes." " Well then," said Mr. Ware, " I will
show you a little of my power. I command you to
permit me to search your house for uncustomed
goods" ; and went on to search the house from the gar
ret to the cellar, and then served the constable in the
same manner ! But to show another absurdity in this
writ, if it should be established, I insist upon it that
every person, by the I4th Charles II., has this power
as well as the custom house officers. The words are :
" It shall be lawful for any person or persons author
ized," etc. What a scene does this open ! Every man
prompted by revenge, ill-humor, or wantonness, to
inspect the inside of his neighbor's house, may get a
writ of assistance. Others will ask it from self-de
fence; one arbitrary exertion will provoke another,
until society be involved in tumult and in blood. . .

[John Adams says that after this exordium Otis
continued under four several headings which he gives
thus — taking the exordium as the first :]

2. " He asserted that every man, merely natural,
was an independent sovereign, subject to no law but

OTIS. 55

the law written on his heart and revealed to him by his
Maker, in the constitution of his nature, and the in
spiration of his understanding and his conscience.
His right to his life, his liberty, no created being
could rightfully contest. Nor was his right to his
property less incontestable. The club that he had
snapped from a tree, for a staff or for defence, was his
own. His bow and arrow were his own; if by a peb
ble he had killed a partridge or a squirrel, it was his
own. No creature, man or beast, had a right to take
it from him. If he had taken an eel, or a smelt, or a
sculpin, it was his property. In short, he sported upon
this topic with so much wit and humor, and at the same
time with so much indisputable truth and reason, that
he was not less entertaining than instructive. He
asserted that these rights were inherent and inaliena
ble ; that they never could be surrendered or alienated,
but by idiots or madmen, and all the acts of idiots and
lunatics were void, and not obligatory, by all the laws
of God and man. Nor were the poor negroes for
gotten. Not a Quaker in Philadelphia, or Mr. Jeffer
son in Virginia, ever asserted the rights- of negroes in
stronger terms. Young as I was, and ignorant as I
was, I shuddered at the doctrine he taught; and I
have all my life shuddered, and still shudder, at the
consequences that may be drawn from such premises.
Shall we say that the rights of masters and servants
clash, and can be decided only by force? I adore the
idea of gradual abolitions! but who shall decide how
fast or how slowly these abolitions shall be made?

3. " From individual independence he proceeded to
association. If it was inconsistent with the dignity

$6 OTIS.

of human nature to say that men were gregarious ani
mals, like wild geese, it surely could offend no delicacy
to say that they were social animals by nature; that
there were natural sympathies, and, above all, the
sweet attraction of the sexes, which must soon draw
them together in little groups, and by degrees in lar
ger congregations, for mutual assistance and defence.
And this must have happened before any formal cove
nant, by express words or signs, was concluded. When
general councils and deliberations commenced, the ob
jects could be no other than the mutual defence and
security of every individual for his life, his liberty and
his property. To suppose them to have surrendered
these in any other way than by equal rules and general
consent was to suppose them idiots or madmen, whose
acts were never binding. To suppose them surprised
by fraud, or compelled by force into any other compact,
such fraud and such force could confer no obligation.
Every man had a right to trample it under foot
whenever he pleased. In short, he asserted these
rights to be derived only from nature and the Author
of Nature; that they were inherent, inalienable, and
indefeasible by any laws, pacts, contracts, covenants,
^r stipulations which man could devise.

4. "These principles and these rights were wrought
into the English Constitution as fundamental laws.
And under this head he went back to the old Saxon
laws, and to Magna Charta, and the fifty confirma
tions of it in Parliament, and the executions ordained
against the violators of it, and the national vengeance
which had been taken on them from time to time, down
to the Jameses and Charleses; and to the Petition of

OTIS. 57

Right and the Bill of Rights and the Revolution. He
asserted that the security of these rights to life, liberty
and property had been the object of all those struggles
against arbitrary power, temporal and spiritual, civil
and political, military and ecclesiastical, in every age.
He asserted that our ancestors as British subjects,
and we, their descendants, as British subjects, were
entitled to all those rights, by the British Constitution,
as well as by the law of nature and our provincial char
ter, as much as any inhabitant of London or Bristol,
or any part of England; and were not to be cheated
out of them by any phantom of * virtual representa
tion,' or any other fiction of law or politics, or any
monkish trick of deceit and hypocrisy.

5. " He then examined the acts of trade, one by one,
and demonstrated that if they were considered as rev
enue laws, they destroyed all our security of property,
liberty and life, every right of nature, and the English
Constitution, and the diarter of the province. Here
he considered the distinction between 'external and in
ternal taxes,' at that time a popular and common-place
distinction. But he asserted that there was no such
distinction in the theory, or upon any principle but
* necessity.' The necessity that the commerce of the
empire should be under one direction was obvious.
The Americans had been so sensible of this necessity,
that they had connived at the distinction between ex
ternal and internal taxes, and had submitted to the acts
of trade as regulations of commerce, but never as taxa
tions, or revenue laws. Nor had the British Govern
ment till now ever dared to enforced them as taxations
or revenue laws. They had lain dorman in that charac-

58 OTIS.

ter for a century almost. The Navigation Act he al
lowed to be binding upon us, because we had consent
ed to it by our own legislature. Here he gave a history
of the Navigation Act of the ist of Charles II., a plag
iarism from Oliver Cromwell. This act had lain dor
mant for fifteen years. In 1675, after repeated letters
and orders from the king, Governor Leverett very
candidly informs his Majesty that the law had not been
executed because it was thought unconstitutional, Par
liament not having authority over us."

WASHINGTON. 59

Washington, George, the first President of the United
States, born at Pope's Creek, Westmoreland Co., Va.,
Feb. 22, 1732, died at Mount Vernon, Va., Dec. 14, 1799,
His career, so familiar to every one, need not be summarized
here. He possessed fewer oratorical gifts than many of his
less illustrious contemporaries, but on the few occasions
upon which he was called to address an audience he spoke
with both dignity and impressiveness. The most memorable
of these occasions were signalized by the Farewell Address
to his brother officers, and his First Inaugural, delivered in
New York in April, 1789,

FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

DELIVERED IN NEW YORK, APRIL 30, 1789.

Fellow-Citizens of the Senateand of the House of Representatives.

AMONG the vicissitudes incident to life, no evenf
could have filled me with greater anxieties than that of
which the notification was transmitted by your order,
and received on the fourth day of the present month.
On the one hand, I was summoned by my country,
whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and
love, from a retreat which I had chosen with the fond
est predilection, and, in my flattering hopes, with an
immutable decision as the asylum of my declining
years; a retreat which was rendered every day more
necessary as well as more dear to me, by the addition
of habit to inclination, and of frequent interruptions
in my health to the gradual waste committed on it by
time ; on the other hand the magnitude and difficulty
of the trust to which the voice of my country called

60 WASHINGTON.

me, being sufficient to awaken, in the wisest and most
experienced of her citizens, a distrustful scrutiny into
his qualifications, could not but overwhelm with de
spondence one who, inheriting inferior endowments
from nature, and unpracticed in the duties of civil
administration, ought to be peculiarly conscious of
his own deficiencies. In this conflict of emotions, all
I dare aver is that it has been my faithful study to
collect my duty from a just appreciation of every cir
cumstance by which it might be affected. All I dare
hope is, that if, in executing this task, I have been too
much swayed by a grateful remembrance of former in
stances, or by an affectionate sensibility to this tran
scendent proof of the confidence of my fellow-citizens,
and have thence too little consulted my incapacity as
well as disinclination for the weighty and untried
cares before me, my error will be palliated by the mo
tives which misled me, and its consequences be judged
by my country, with some share of the partiality in
which they originated.

Such being the impression under which I have, in
obedience to the public summons, repaired to the
present station, it would be peculiarly improper to
omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplications
to that Almighty Being, who rules over the universe,
who presides in the councils of nations, and whose
providential aids can supply every human defect, that
his benediction may consecrate to the liberties and
happiness of the people of the United States a govern
ment instituted by themselves for these essential pur
poses, and may enable every instrument employed in
its administration to execute, with success, the func-

WASHINGTON. 6 1

tions allotted to his charge. In tendering this homage
to the Great Author of every public and private good,
I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not
less than my own; nor those of my fellow-citizens at
large less than either. No people can be bound to
acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which con
ducts the affairs of men, more than the people of the
United States. Every step by which they have ad
vanced to the character of an independent nation
seems to have been distinguished by some token of
providential agency. And, in the important revolu
tion just accomplished, in the system of their united
government, the tranquil deliberations and voluntary
consent of so many distinct communities, from which
the event has resulted, cannot be compared with the
means by which most governments have been estab
lished, without -some return of pious gratitude, along
with a humble anticipation of the future blessings
which the past seems to presage. These reflections,
arising out of the present crisis, have forced them
selves too strongly on my mind to be suppressed. You
will join with me, I trust, in thinking that there are
none under the influence of which the proceedings
of a new and free government can more auspiciously
commence.

By the article establishing the Executive Depart
ment, it is made the duty of the President " to recom
mend to your consideration such measures as he shall
judge necessary and expedient." The circumstances
under which I now meet you will acquit me from en
tering into that subject further than to refer you to
the great constitutional charter under which we are

62 WASHINGTON.

assembled ; and which, in defining your powers, desig
nates the objects to which your attention is to be giv
en. It will be more consistent with those circum
stances and far more congenial with the feelings which
actuate me, to substitute, in place of a recommenda
tion of particular measures, the tribute that is due to
the talents, the rectitude, and the patriotism which
adorn the characters selected to devise and adopt
them. In these honorable qualifications, I behold the
surest pledges, that as, on one side, no local preju
dices or attachments, no separate views nor party ani
mosities, will misdirect the comprehensive and equal
eye which ought to watch over this great assemblage
of communities and interests — so, on another, that
the foundations of our national policy will be laid in
the pure and immutable principles of private morality ;
and the pre-eminence of a free government be exem
plified by all the attributes which can win the af
fections of its citizens and command the respect of
the world.

I dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction
which an ardent love for my country can inspire ;
since there is no truth more thoroughly established
than that there exists, in the economy and course of
nature, an indissoluble union between virtue and
happiness — between duty and advantage — between
the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous
policy and the solid rewards of public prosperity and
felicity — since we ought to be no less persuaded that
the propitious smiles of heaven can never be expected
on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order
and right which heaven itself has ordained — and since

WASHINGTON. 63

the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the
destiny of the republican model of government, are
justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked,
on the experiment intrusted to the hands of the
American people.

Besides the ordinary objects submitted to your care,
it will remain with your judgment to decide how far
an exercise of the occasional power delegated by the
fifth article of the Constitution is rendered expedient,
at the present juncture, by the nature of objections
which have been urged against the system, or by the
degree of inquietude which has given birth to them.
Instead of undertaking particular recommendations on
this subject, in which I could be guided by no lights
derived from official opportunities, I shall again give
\vay to my entire confidence in your discernment and
pursuit of the public good. For I assure myself that,
while you carefully avoided every alteration which
might endanger the benefits of a united and effective
government, or which ought to await the future les
sons of experience, a reverence for the characteristic
rights of freemen and a regard for the public harmony
will sufficiently influence your deliberations on the
question how far the former can be more impreg-
nably fortified, or the latter be safely and more ad
vantageously promoted.

To the preceding observations I have one to add,
which will be most properly addressed to the House
of Representatives. It concerns myself, and will
therefore be as brief as possible.

When I was first honored with a call into the ser
vice of my country, then on the eve of an arduous

64 WASHINGTON.

struggle for its liberties, the light in which I contem
plated my duty required that I should renounce every
pecuniary compensation. From this resolution I have
in no instance departed. And being still under the
impressions which produced it, I must decline, as inap
plicable to myself, any share in the personal emolu
ments which may be indispensably included in a per
manent provision for the Executive Department ; and
must accordingly pray that the pecuniary estimates for
the station in which I am placed may, during my con
tinuation in it, be limited to such actual expenditures
as the public good may be thought to require.

Having thus imparted to you my sentiments, as they
have been awakened by the occasion which brings us
together, I shall take my present leave, but not with
out resorting once more to the benign Parent of the
human race, in. humble supplication, that, since he has
been pleased to favor the American people with op
portunities for deliberating in perfect tranquillity,
and dispositions for deciding with unparalleled unan
imity on a form of government for the security of their
union and the advancement of their happiness, so his
divine blessing may be equally conspicuous in the en
larged views, the temperate consultations, and the
wise measures on which the success of this govern
ment must depend.

WASHINGTON. 65

FAREWELL ADDRESS.

ISSUED SEPTEMBER IQ, 1796.

Friends and Fellow-Citizens.

THE period for a new election of a citizen to ad
minister the executive government of the United
States being not far distant, and the time actually ar
rived when your thoughts must be employed in desig
nating the person who is to be clothed with that im
portant trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it
may conduce to a more distinct expression of the pub
lic voice, that I should now apprise you of the reso
lution I have formed, to decline being considered
among the number of those out of whom a choice is
to be made.

I beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice
to be assured that this resolution has not been taken
without a strict regard to all the considerations ap
pertaining to the relation which binds a dutiful citizen
to his country ; and that in withdrawing the tender of
service, which silence in my situation might imply, I
am influenced by no diminution of zeal for your future
interest, no deficiency of grateful respect for your past
kindness, but am supported by a full conviction that
the step is compatible with both.

The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, the
office to which your suffrages have twice called me
have been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the
opinion of duty and to a deference for what appeared
to be your desire. I constantly hoped that it would

66 WASHINGTON.

have been much earlier in my power, consistently with
motives which I was not at liberty to disregard, to re
turn to that retirement from which I had been reluct
antly drawn. The strength of my inclination to do
this, previous to the last election, had even led to the
preparation of an address to declare it to you ; but ma
ture reflection on the then perplexed and critical pos
ture of our affairs with foreign nations, and the unani
mous advice of persons entitled to my confidence,
impelled me to abandon the idea.

I rejoice that the state of your concerns, external
as well as internal, no longer renders the pursuit of in
clination incompatible with the sentiment of duty or
propriety, and am persuaded, whatever partiality may
be retained for my services, that, in the present cir
cumstances of our country, you will not disapprove my
determination to retire.

The impressions with which I first undertook the
arduous trust were explained on the proper occasion.
In the discharge of this trust, I will only say that I
have, with good intentions, contributed toward the or
ganization and administration of the government the
best exertions of which a very fallible judgment was
capable. Not unconscious in the outset of the inferior
ity of my qualifications, experience in my own eyes,
perhaps still more in the eyes of others, has strength
ened the motives to diffidence of myself; and every
day the increasing weight of years admonishes me
more and more that the shade of retirement is as ne
cessary to me as it will be welcome. Satisfied that if
any circumstances have given peculiar value to my
services, they were temporary, I have the consolation

WASHINGTON. 67

to believe that, while choice and prudence invite me to
quit the political scene, patriotism does not forbid it.

In looking forward to the moment which is intended
to terminate the career of my public life, my feelings
do not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledg
ment of that debt of gratitude which I owe to my be
loved country for the many honors it has conferred
upon me; still more for the steadfast confidence with
which it has supported me; and for the opportunities
I have thence enjoyed of manifesting my inviolable at
tachment, by services faithful and persevering, though
in usefulness unequal to my zeal. If benefits have re
sulted to our country from these services, let it al
ways be remembered to your praise, and as an instruc
tive example in our annals, that under circumstances
in which the passions agitated in every direction, were
liable to mislead, amid appearances sometimes dubi
ous, vicissitudes of fortune often discouraging, in
situations in which not infrequently want of success
has countenanced the spirit of criticism, the con
stancy of your support was the essential prop of the
efforts, and a guarantee of the plans by which they
were effected. Profoundly penetrated with this idea,
I shall carry it with me to my grave, as a strong in
citement to unceasing vows that heaven may continue
to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence ; that your
union and brotherly affection may be perpetual; that
the free Constitution, which is the work of your
hands, may be sacredly maintained; that its adminis
tration in every department may be stamped with wis
dom and virtue; that, in fine, the happiness of the
people of these States, under the auspices of liberty,
3-1

68 WASHINGTON.

may be made complete by so careful a preservation
and so prudent a use of this blessing as will acquire to
them the glory of recommending it to the applause, the
affection, and adoption of every nation which is yet a
stranger to it.

Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitude for
your welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and
the apprehension of danger, natural to that solicitude,
urge me, on an occasion like the present, to offer to
your solemn contemplation, and to recommend to your
frequent review, some sentiments which are the re
sult of much reflection, of no inconsiderable observa
tion, and which appear to me all-important to the
permanency of your felicity as a people. These will
be offered to you with the more freedom, as you can
only see in them the disinterested warnings of a
parting friend, who can possibly have no personal mo
tive to bias his counsel. Nor can I forget, as an en
couragement to it, your indulgent reception of my
sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occasion.

Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every liga
ment of your hearts, no recommendation of mine is
necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment.

The unity of government which constitutes you one
people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it
is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independ
ence, the support of your tranquillity at home, your
peace abroad; of your safety, of your prosperity; of
that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as
it is easy to foresee that, from different causes and
from different quarters, much pains will be taken,
many artifices employed, to weaken in your minds the

WASHINGTON. 69

conviction of this truth; as this is the point in your
political fortress against which the batteries of in
ternal and external enemies will be most constantly
and actively (though often covertly and insidiously)
directed, it is of infinite moment that you should
properly estimate the immense value of your national
union to your collective and individual happiness ; that
you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable
attachment to it ; accustoming yourselves to think and
speak of it as of the palladium of your political safety
and prosperity; watching for its preservation with
jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may sug
gest even a suspicion that it can in any event be
abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the first
dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of
our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred
ties which now link together the various parts.

For this you have every inducement of sympathy
and interest. Citizens, by birth or choice, of a com
mon country, that country has a right to concentrate
your affections. The name of American, which be
longs to you in your national cap'acity, must always
exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any ap
pellation derived from local discriminations. With
slight shades of difference, you have the same relig
ion, manners, habits, and political principles. You
have in a common cause fought and triumphed togeth
er; the independence and liberty you possess are the
work of joint counsels, and joint efforts of common
dangers, sufferings, and successes.

But these considerations, however powerfully they
address themselves to your sensibility, are greatly

70 WASHINGTON.

outweighed by those which apply more immediately
to your interest. Here every portion of our country
finds the most commanding motives for carefully
guarding and preserving the union of the whole.

The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with
the South, protected by the equal laws of a common
government, finds in the productions of the latter
great additional resources of maritime and commercial
enterprise and precious materials of manufacturing in
dustry. The South, in the same intercourse, bene
fiting by the agency of the North, sees its agriculture
grow and its commerce expand. Turning partly into
its own channels the seamen of the North, it finds its
particular navigation invigorated; and, while it con
tributes^ in different ways to nourish and increase the
general mass of the national navigation, it looks for
ward to the protection of a maritim'e strength, to
which itself is unequally adapted. The East, in a like
intercourse with the West, already finds, and, in the
progressive improvement of interior communications
by land and water, will more and more find a valuable
vent for the commodities which it brings from abroad,
or manufactures at home. The West derives from the
East supplies requisite to its growth and comfort, and,
what is perhaps of still greater consequence, it must of
necessity owe the secure enjoyment of indispensable
outlets for its own productions to the weight, influ
ence, and the future maritime strength of the Atlantic
side of the Union, directed by an indissoluble com
munity of interest as one nation. Any other tenure
by which the West can hold this essential advantage,
whether derived from its own separate strength, or

WASHINGTON. /I

from an apostate and unnatural connection with any
foreign power, must be intrinsically precarious.

While, then, every part of our country thus feels
an immediate and particular interest in union, all the
parts combined cannot fail to find in the united mass
of means and efforts greater strength, greater re
source, proportionably greater security from external
danger, a less frequent interruption of their peace by
foreign nations; and, what is of inestimable value,
they must derive from union an exemption from those
broils and wars between themselves, which so fre
quently afflict neighboring countries not tied together
by the same governments, which their own rival ships
alone would be sufficient to produce, but which oppo
site foreign alliances, attachments, and intrigues would
stimulate and imbitter. Hence, likewise, they will avoid
the necessity of those overgrown military establish
ments which, under any form of government, are in
auspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as
particularly hostile to republican liberty. In this
sense it is that your union ought to be considered as a
main prop of your liberty, and that the love of the
one ought to endear to you the preservation of the
other.

These considerations speak a persuasive language
to every reflecting and virtuous mind, and exhibit the
continuance of the Union as a primary object of pa
triotic desire. Is there a doubt whether a common
government can embrace so large a sphere ? Let ex
perience solve it. To listen to mere speculation in such
a case were criminal. We are authorized to hope that
a proper organization of the whole with the auxiliary

74 WASHINGTON.

an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is
sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the
power and the right of the people to establish govern
ment presupposes the duty of every individual to obey
the established government.

All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all
combinations and associations, under whatever plaus
ible character, with the real design to direct, control,
counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and ac
tion of the constituted authorities, are destructive of
this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They
serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and
extraordinary force ; to put in the place of the delegat
ed will of the nation the will of a party, often a small
but artful and enterprising minority of the commun
ity; and, according to the alternate triumphs of dif
ferent parties, to make the public administration the
mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects
of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and
wholesome plans digested by common counsels and
modified by mutual interests.

However combinations or associations of the above
description may now and then answer popular ends,
they are likely, in the course of time and things, to
become potent engines by which cunning, ambitious,
and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the
power of the people and to usurp for themselves the
reins of government, destroying afterward the very
engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.

Toward the preservation of your government, and
the permanency of your present happy state, it is
requisite, not only that you steadily discountenance

WASHINGTON. 73

that with Great Britain, and that with Spain, which
secure to them everything they could desire, in re
spect to our foreign relations, toward confirming their
prosperity. Will it not be their wisdom to rely for
the preservation of these advantages on the Union by
which they were procured ? Will they not henceforth
be deaf to those advisers, if such they are, who would
sever them from their brethren and connect them with
aliens?

To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a
government for the whole is indispensable. No alli
ance, however strict, between the parts can be an ade
quate substitute ; they must inevitably experience the
infractions and interruptions which all alliances in all
times have experienced. Sensible of this momentous
truth, you have improved upon your first essay, by the
adoption of a constitution of government better calcu
lated than your former for an intimate union, and
for the efficacious management of your common con
cerns. This government, the offspring of our own
choice, uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full
investigation and mature deliberation, completely free
in its principles, in the distribution of its powers, unit
ing security with energy, and containing within itself
a provision for its own amendment, has a just claim
to your confidence and your support. Respect for
its authority, compliance with its laws, acquiescence
in its measures, are duties enjoined by the fundamen
tal maxims of true liberty. The basis of our political
systems is the right of the people to make and to
alter their constitutions of government. But the
Constitution which at any time exists, till changed by

74 WASHINGTON.

an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is
sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the
power and the right of the people to establish govern
ment presupposes the duty of every individual to obey
the established government.

All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all
combinations and associations, under whatever plaus
ible character, with the real design to direct, control,
counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and ac
tion of the constituted authorities, are destructive of
this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They
serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and
extraordinary force ; to put in the place of the delegat
ed will of the nation the will of a party, often a small
but artful and enterprising minority of the commun
ity; and, according to the alternate triumphs of dif
ferent parties, to make the public administration the
mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects
of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and
wholesome plans digested by common counsels and
modified by mutual interests.

However combinations or associations of the above
description may now and then answer popular ends,
they are likely, in the course of time and things, to
become potent engines by which cunning, ambitious,
and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the
pov/er of the people and to usurp for themselves the
reins of government, destroying afterward the very
engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.

Toward the preservation of your government, and
the permanency of your present happy state, it is
requisite, not only that you steadily discountenance

WASHINGTON. 75

irregular oppositions to its acknowledged authority,
but also that you resist with care the spirit of innova
tion upon its principles, however specious the pretexts.
One method of assault may be to effect, in the forms
of the Constitution, alterations which will impair the
energy of the system, and thus to undermine what
cannot be directly overthrown. In all the changes to
which you may be invited, remember that time and
habit are at least as necessary to fix the true charac
ter of governments as of other human institutions;
that experience is the surest standard by which to test
the real tendency of the existing constitution of a
country; that facility in changes, upon the credit of
mere hypothesis and opinion, exposes to perpetual
change, from the endless variety of hypothesis and
opinion; and remember, especially, that for the ef
ficient management of your common interests, in a
country so extensive as ours, a government of as much
vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of lib
erty is indispensable. Liberty itself will find in suck
a government, with powers properly distributed and
adjusted, its surest guardian. It is, indeed, little else
than a name, where the government is too feeble to
withstand the enterprises of faction, to confine each
member of the society within the limits prescribed by
the laws, and to maintain all in the secure and tran
quil enjoyment of the rights of person and prop
erty.

I have already intimated to you the danger of par
ties in the state, with particular reference to the
founding of them on geographical discriminations.
Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and

76 WASHINGTON.

warn you in the most solemn manner against the
'baneful effects of the spirit of party generally.

This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our
nature, having its root in the strongest passions of
the human mind. It exists under different shapes in
all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or
repressed ; but, in those of 'the popular form, it is
seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst
enemy.

The alternate domination of one faction over an
other, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to
party dissension, which in different ages and coun
tries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is
itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length
to a more formal and permanent despotism. The
disorders and miseries which result gradually incline
the minds of men to seek security and repose in the
absolute power of an individual ; and sooner or later
the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or
more fortunate than his competitors, turns this dis
position to the purpose of his own elevation, on the
ruins of public liberty.

Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind
(which, nevertheless, ought net to be entirely out
of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the
spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and
duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.

It serves always to distract the public councils
and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates
the community with ill-founded jealousies and false
alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against an
other, foments occasionally riot and insurrection.

WASHINGTON. 77

It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption,
which finds a facilitated access to the government it
self through the channels of party passions. Thus
the policy and the will of one country are subjected to
the policy and will of another.

There is an opinion that parties in free countries
are useful checks upon the administration of the gov
ernment and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty.
This within certain limits is probably true; and in
governments of a monarchical cast, patriotism may
look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit
of party. But in those of the popular character,
in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be
encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is cer
tain there will always be enough of that spirit for
every salutary purpose. And there being constant
danger of excess, the effort ought to be by force of
public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not
to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to
prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of
warming, it should consume.

It is important, likewise, that the habits of think
ing in a free country should inspire caution in those
intrusted with its administration, to confine them
selves within their respective constitutional spheres,
avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one de
partment to encroach upon another. The spirit
of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of
all the departments into one, and thus to create, what
ever the form of government, a real despotism. A
just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to
abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is

78 WASHINGTON.

sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position.
The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise
of political power, by dividing and distributing it
into different depositaries, and constituting each
the guardian of the public weal against invasions
by the others, has been evinced by experiments
ancient and modern ; some of them in our coun
try and under our own eyes. To preserve them must
be as necessary as to institute them. If, in the
opinion of the people, the distribution or modification
of the constitutional powers be in any particular
wrong, let be corrected by an amendment in the
way which the Constitution designates. But let there
be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one
instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the
customary weapon by which free governments are de
stroyed. The precedent must always greatly over
balance in permanent evil any partial or transient
benefit which the use can at any time yield.

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to
political prosperity, religion and morality are indis
pensable supports. In vain would that man claim the
tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert
these great pillars of human happiness, these firm
est props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere
politician, equally with the pious man, ought to re
spect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace
all their connections with private and public felicity.
Let is simply be asked: Where is the security for
property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of re
ligious obligations desert the oath which are the instru
ments of investigation in courts of justice? And let

GEORGE WASHINGTON,

WASHINGTON. 79

us with caution indulge the supposition that morality
can be maintained without religion. Whatever may
be conceded to the influence of refined education on
minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience
both forbid us to expect that national morality can
prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a
necessary spring of popular government. The rule,
indeed, extends with more or less force to every
species of free government. Who that is a sincere
friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts
to shake the foundation of the fabric?

Promote, then, as an object of primary importance,
institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge.
In proportion as the structure of a government gives
force to public opinion, it is essential that public
opinion, should be enlightened.

As a very important source of strength and secur
ity, cherish public credit. One method of preserving
it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occa
sions of expense by cultivating peace, but remember
ing also that timely disbursements to prepare for
danger frequently prevent much greater disburse
ments to repel it, avoiding likewise the accumulation
of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense,
but by vigorous exertion in time of peace to dis
charge the debts which unavoidable wars may have
occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon pos
terity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear.
The executions of these maxims belongs to your rep
resentatives, but it is necessary that public opinion
should co-operate. To facilitate to them the per-

8O WASHINGTON.

formance of their duty, it is essential that you should
practically bear in mind that toward the payment of
debts there must be revenue; that to have revenue
there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised
which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleas
ant; that the intrinsic embarrassment inseparable
from the selection of the proper objects (which is
always a choice of difficulties), ought to be a decisive
motive for a candid construction of the conduct of
the government in making it, and for a spirit of ac-
quiesence in the measures for obtaining revenue,
which the public exigencies may at any time dictate.

Observe good faith and justice toward all nations;
cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and
morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be that good
policy does not equally enjoin it? It will be worthy
of a free, enlightened, and, at no distant period, a
great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous
and too novel example of a people always guided by
an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt
that, in the course of time and things, the fruits of
such a plan would richly repay any temporary advan
tages which might be lost by a steady adherence to
it? Can it be that Providence has not connected the
permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue? The
experiment, at least, is recommended by every senti
ment which ennobles human nature. Alas ! is it ren
dered impossible by its vices?

In the execution of such a plan nothing is more es
sential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies
against particular nations, and passionate attachments
ifor others, should be excluded; and that, in place of

WASHINGTON. 8 1

them, just and amicable feelings toward all should
be cultivated. The nation which indulges to
ward another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness
is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosi
ty or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to
lead it astray from its duty and its interests. An
tipathy in one nation against another disposes each
mere readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of
slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and in
tractable, when accidental or trifling occasions of dis
pute occur. Hence frequent collisions, obstinate, enven
omed, and bloody contests. The nation, prompted
by ill-will and resentment, sometimes impels to war
the government, contrary to the best calculations
of policy. The government sometimes participates in
the national propensity, and adopts through passion
what reason would reject; at other times it makes
the animosity of the nation subservient to projects
of hostility instigated by pride, ambition, and other
sinister and pernicious motives. The peace often,
sometimes perhaps the liberty, of nations, has been
the victim.

So, likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation
for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy
for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an
imaginary common interest in cases where no real
common interest exists, and fusing into one the enmi
ties of the other, betrays the former into a participa
tion in the quarrels and wars of the latter without ade
quate inducement or justification. It leads also to
concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied
to others which is apt doubly to injure the nation mak-

82 WASHINGTON.

ing the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with
what ought to have been retained, and by ex
citing jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate,
in the parties from whom equal privileges are with
held. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or de
luded citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite
nation) facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of
their own country, without odium, sometimes even
with popularity; gilding with the appearance of a
virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable defer
ence for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public
good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition,
corruption, or infatuation.

As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable
ways, such attachments are particularly alarming
to the truly enlightened and independent patriot.
How many opportunities do they afford to tamper
with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduc
tion, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe
the public councils ? Such an attachment of a small
or weak toward a great and powerful nation dooms
the former to be the satellite of the latter.

Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I
conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens) the jeal
ousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake,
since history and experience prove that foreign in
fluence is one of the most baneful foes of republican
government. But that jealousy to be useful must
be impartial; else it becomes the instrument of the
very influence to be avoided, instead of a defence
against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign na
tion and excessive dislike of another cause those

WASHINGTON. 83

whom they actuate to see danger only on one side,
and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence
on the other. Real patriots who may resist the in
trigues of the favorite are liable to become suspected
and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the ap
plause and confidence of the people, to surrender their
interests.

The great rule of conduct for us in regard to for
eign nations is in extending our commercial relations,
to have with them as little political connection as
possible. So far as we have already formed engage
ments, let them de fulfilled with perfect good faith.
Here let us stop.

Europe has a set of primary interests which to us
have none, or a very remote relation. Hence she
must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes
of which are essentially foreign to our concerns.
Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to impli
cate ourselves by artificial ties in the ordinary vicis
situdes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations
and collisions of her friendships or enmities.

Our detached and distant situation invites and en
ables us to pursue a definite course. If we remain
one people under an efficient government, the period
is not far off when we may defy material injury from
external annoyance ; when we may take such an atti
tude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time
resolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when bel
ligerent nations, under the impossibility of making'
acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giv
ing us provocation; when we may choose peace or
war, as our interests, guided by justice, shall counsel.

84 WASHINGTON.

Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situa
tion? 'Why quit our own stand upon foreign
ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with
that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and
prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rival-
ship, interest, humor or caprice?

It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent
alliances with any portion of^the foreign world; so
far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for let
me not be understood as capable of patronizing infi
delity to existing engagements. I hold the maxim
no less applicable to public than to private affairs,.
that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat it,
therefore let those engagements be observed in their
genuine sense. But, in my opinion, it is unnecessary
and would be unwise to extend them.

Taking care always to keep ourselves by suitable
establishments on a respectable defensive posture, we
may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraor
dinary emergencies.

Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are *
recommended by policy, humanity, and interest.
But even our commercial policy should hold an equal
and impartial hand ; neither seeking nor granting ex
clusive favors or preferences; consulting the natural
course of things ; diffusing and diversifying by gentle
means the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing;
establishing (with powers so disposed, in order to
give trade a stable course, to define the rights of our
merchants, and to enable the government to support
them) conventional rules of intercourse, the best that
present circumstances and mutual opinion will permit,.

WASHINGTON. ?$

but temporary, and liable to be from time to time aban
doned or varied, as experience and circumstances shall
dictate ; constantly keeping in view that it is folly in
one nation to look for disinterested favors from an
other; that it must pay with a portion of its indepen
dence for whatever it may accept under that charac
ter ; that, by such acceptance, it may place itself in the
condition of having given equivalents for nominal
favors, and yet of being reproached with ingratitude
for not giving more. There can be no greater error
than to expect or calculate upon real favors from na
tion to nation. It is an illusion, which experience
must cure, which a just pride ought to discard.

In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels
of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope
they will make the strong and lasting impression I
could wish; that they will control the usual current
of the passions, or prevent our nation from running
the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of
nations. But, if I may even flatter myself that they
may be productive of some partial benefit, some occa
sional good; that they may now and then recur to
moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the
mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the
impostures of pretended patriotism ; this hope will be
a full recompense for the solicitude for your welfare,
by which they have been dictated.

How far in the discharge of my official duties I
have been guided by the principles which have been
delineated, the public records and other evidences of
my conduct must witness to you and to the world. To
myself, the assurance of my own conscience is, that

86 WASHINGTON.

I have at least believed myself to be guided by
them.

In relation to the still subsisting war in Europe,
my proclamation of the twenty-second of April, 1793,
is the index of my plan. Sanctioned by your approv
ing voice, and by that of your representatives in
both Houses of Congress, the spirit of that measure
has continually governed me, uninfluenced by any at
tempts to deter or divert me from it.

After deliberate examination, with the aid of the
best lights I could obtain, I was well satisfied that our
country, under all circumstances of the case, had a
right to take, and was bound in duty and interest to
take, a neutral position. Having taken it, I deter
mined, as far as should depend upon me, to maintain
it, with moderation, perseverance, and firmness.

The considerations which respect the right to hold
this conduct, it is not necessary on this occasion to de
tail. I will only observe that, according to my un
derstanding of the matter, that right, so far from be
ing denied by any of the belligerent powers, has been
virtually admitted by all.

The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be
inferred, without anything more, from the obligation
which justice and humanity impose on every nation,
in cases in which it is free to act, to maintain invio
late the relations of peace and amity toward other
nations.

The inducements of interest for observing that
conduct will best be referred to your own reflections
and experience. With me a predominant motive has
been to endeavor to gain time to our country to set-

WASHINGTON. 8/

tie and mature its, yet recent institutions, and to pro
gress without interruption to that degree of strength
and consistency which is necessary to give it, human
ly speaking, the command of its own fortunes.

Though, in reviewing the incidents of my adminis
tration, I am unconscious of intentional error, I am
nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think
it probable that I may have committed many errors.
Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Al
mighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they
may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope that
my country will never cease to view them with indul
gence; and that, after forty-five years of my life dedi
cated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of
incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as
myself must soon be to the mansions of rest.

Relying on its kindness in this as in other things,
and actuated by that fervent love toward it, which is
so natural to a man who views in it the native soil of
himself and his progenitors for several generations,
I anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat in
which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the
sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fel
low-citizens, the benign influence of good laws under
a free government, the ever-favorite object of my
heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual
cares, labors, and dangers.

88 JOHN ADAMS.

Adams, John, second President of the United States,
born in that portion of Braintree, Mass., now known as
Quincy, October 19, 1735, died there, July 4, 1826. During
the unquiet period immediately preceding the American Rev
olution he stoutly defended in print the right of the colonies
to rebel, and his speech following what is known as " The
Boston Massacre " is a fair specimen of his eloquence. He
was popular as an orator, and although his style is grandiose
at times it was effective in his day, and his speeches make
stirring reading at the present even. An interesting view of
his character may be obtained from the " Familiar Letters
of John Adams and his Wife,"

INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

MARCH 4, 1797. '

WHEN it was first perceived in early times, that no
middle course for America remained, between un
limited submission to a foreign legislature and a total
independence of its claims, men of* reflection were
less apprehensive of danger from the formidable
powers of fleets and armies they must determine to
resist, than from those contests and dissensions which
would certainly arise concerning the forms of gov
ernment to be instituted over the whole and over the
parts of this extensive country. Relying, however,
on the purity of their intentions, the justice of their
cause, and the integrity and intelligence of the peo
ple, under an overruling Providence, which had so
signally protected this country from the first, the
representatives of this nation, then consisting of little
more than half its present numbers, not only <broke

JOHN ADAMS. 89

to pieces the chains which were forging, and the rod
of iron that was lifted up, but frankly cut asunder the
ties which had bound them, and launched into an
ocean of uncertainty.

The zeal and ardor of the people during the Revo
lutionary War, supplying the place of government,
commanded a degree of order, sufficient, at least,
for the temporary preservation of society. The con
federation, which \vas early felt to be necessary, was
prepared from the models of the Bavarian and Hel
vetic confederacies, the only examples which remain,
with any detail and precision, in history, and certain
ly the only ones which the people at large had ever
considered. But, reflecting on the striking differ
ence, in so many particulars, between this country
and those where a courier may go from the seat of
government to the frontier in a single day, it was then
certainly foreseen by some who assisted in Congress
at the formation of it, that it could not be durable.

Negligence of its regulations, inattention to its
recommendations, if not disobedience to its authori
ty, not only in individuals but in States, soon ap
peared with their melancholy consequences — uni
versal languor, jealousies, rivalries of States, decline
of navigation and commerce, discouragement of nee-

o o

essary manufactures, universal fall in the value of
lands and their produce, contempt of public and pri
vate faith, loss of consideration and credit with for
eign nations; and, at length, in discontents, animosi
ties, combinations, partial conventions, and insurrec
tions, threatening some great national calamity.
In this dangerous crisis the people of America were

90 JOHN ADAMS.

not abandoned by their usual good sense, presence of
mind, resolution, or integrity. Measures were pur
sued to concert a plan to form a more perfect union,
establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, pro
vide for the common defence, promote the general
welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty. The
public disquisitions, discussions, and deliberations is
sued in the present happy constitution of govern
ment.

Employed in the service of my country abroad
during the whole course of these transactions, I first
saw the Constitution of the United States in a for
eign country. Irritated by no literary altercation,
animated by no public debate, heated by no party ani
mosity, I read it with great satisfaction, as the re
sult of good heads, prompted by good hearts; as an
experiment better adapted to the genius, character,
situation, and relations of this nation and country
than any which had even been proposed or suggested.
In its general principles and great outlines, it was
conformable to such a system of government as I had
ever most esteemed, and in some States, my own
native State in particular, had contributed to estab
lish. Claiming a right of suffrage common with my
fellow-citizens in the adoption or rejection of a
constitution, which was to rule me and my posterity,
as well as them and theirs, I did not hesitate to ex
press my approbation of it on all occasions, in public
and in private. It was not then, nor has been since,
any objection to it, in my mind, that the Executive
and Senate were not more permanent. Nor have I
entertained a thought of promoting any alteration in

JOHN ADAMS. 9!

it, but such as the people themselves, in the course
of their experience, should see and feel to be necessary
or expedient, and by their representatives in Congress
and the State legislature, according to the Constitu
tion itself, adopt and ordain.

Returning to the bosom of my country, after a
painful separation from it for ten years, I had the
honor to be elected to a station under the new order
of things; and I have repeatedly laid myself under
the most serious obligations to support the Constitu
tion. The operation of it has equalled the most san
guine expectations of its friends ; and from a habitual
attention to it, satisfaction in its administration, and
delight in its effects upon the peace, order, prosperity,
and happiness of the nation, I have acquired a habit
ual attachment to it, and veneration for it.

What other form of government, indeed, can so
well deserve our esteem and love ?

There may be little solidity in an ancient idea that
congregations of men into cities and nations are the
most pleasing objects in the sight of superior intelli
gences; but this is very certain, that to a benevolent
human mind there can be no spectacle presented by
any nation more pleasing, more noble, majestic, or
august, than an assembly like that which has so often
been seen in this and the other Chamber of Con
gress — of a government of which the executive au
thority, as well as that of all the branches of the legis
lature, are exercised by citizens selected at regular
periods by their neighbors, to make and execute laws
for the general good. Can anything essential, any
thing more than mere ornament and decoration be

92 JOHN ADAMS.

added to this by robes or diamonds? Can authority
be more amiable or respectable when it descends from
accident or institutions established in remote anti
quity than when it springs fresh from the hearts
and judgments of an honest and enlightened people?
For it is the people that are represented; it is their
power and majesty that is reflected, and only for their
good, in every legitimate government, under what
ever form it may appear. The existence of such a
government as ours for any length of time is a full
proof of a general dissemination of knowledge and
virtue throughout the whole body of the people. And
what object of consideration more pleasing than this
can be presented to the human mind? If natural
pride is ever justifiable or excusable, it is when it
springs hot from power or riches, grandeur or glory,
but from conviction of national innocence, informa
tion, and benevolence.

In the midst of these pleasing ideas, we should be
unfaithful to ourselves if we should ever lose sight
of the danger to our liberties — if anything partial or
extraneous should infect the purity of our free, fair,
virtuous, and independent elections. If an election
is to be determined by a majority of a single vote,
and that can be procured by a party through artifice
or corruption, the government may be the choice of
a party, for its own ends, not of the nation for the
national good. If that solitary suffrage can be obtained
by foreign nations by flattery or menaces, by fraud or
violence, by terror, intrigue, or venality, the govern
ment may not be the choice of the American people,
but of foreign nations. It may be foreign nations

JOHN ADAMS. 93

who govern us, and not we, the people, who govern
ourselves; and candid men will acknowledge that, in
such cases, choice would have little advantage to
boast of over lot or chance.

Such is the amiable and interesting system of gov
ernment (and such are some of the abuses to which
it may be exposed) which the people of America have
exhibited to the admiration and anxiety of the wise
and virtuous of all nations for eight years, under the
administration of a citizen, who, by a long course of
great actions, regulated by prudence, justice, tem
perance, and fortitude, conducting a people inspired
with the same virtues, and animated with the same
ardent patriotism and love of liberty, to independence
and peace, to increasing wealth and unexampled pros
perity has merited the gratitude of his fellow-citizens,
commanded the highest praises of foreign nations,
and secured immortal glory with posterity.

In that retirement, which is his voluntary choice,
may he live long to enjoy the delicious recollection
of his services — the gratitude of mankind; the happy
fruits of them to himself and the world, which are
daily increasing, and that splendid prospect of the fu
ture fortunes of his country, which is opening from
year to year. His name may be still a rampart
and the knowledge that he lives a bulwark against all
open or secret enemies of his country's peace.

This example has been recommended to the imita
tion of his successors, by both Houses of Congress,
and by the voice of the Legislatures and the people
throughout the nation.

On this subject it might become me better to be

94 JOHN ADAMS.

silent, or to speak with diffidence; but as something*
may be expected, the occasion, I hope, will be ad
mitted as an apology, if I venture to say, that if a
preference upon principle, of a free republican gov
ernment, formed upon long and serious reflection, af
ter a diligent . and impartial inquiry after truth ;
if an attachment to the Constitution of the United
States, and a conscientious determination to support
it, until it shall be altered by the judgments and
wishes of the people, expressed in the mode prescribed
in 'it; if a respectful attention to the Constitution of
the individual States, and a constant caution and deli
cacy toward the State governments; if an equal and
impartial regard to the rights, interests, honor, and
happiness of all the States in the Union, without
preference or regard to a northern or southern, east
ern or western position, their various political opin
ions on essential points, or their personal attach
ments; of a love of virtuous men, of all parties and
denominations; if a love of science and letters and a
wish to patronize every rational effort to encourage
schools, colleges, universities, academies, and every
institution of propagating knowledge, virtue and re
ligion among all classes of people, not only for their
benign influence on the happiness of life, in ail its
stages and classes, and of society in all its forms, but
as the only means of preserving our Constitution from
its natural enemies, the spirit of sophistry, the spirit
of party, the spirit of intrigue, profligacy, and cor
ruption, and the pestilence of foreign influence, which
is the angel of destruction to elective governments;
if a love of equal laws, of justice and humanity, in

JOHN ADAMS. 95

the interior administration; if an inclination to im
prove agriculture, commerce, and manufactures for
necessity, convenience, and defence; if a spirit of
equity and humanity toward the aboriginal nations
of America, and a disposition to ameliorate their con
dition by inclining them to be more friendly to us,
and our citizens to be more friendly to them; if an
inflexible determination to maintain peace and in
violable faith with all nations, and the system of neu
trality and impartiality among the belligerent powers
of Europe which has been adopted by the govern
ment, and so solemnly sanctioned by both Houses of
Congress, and applauded by the Legislatures of the
States and by public opinion, until it shall be otherwise
ordained by Congress; if a personal esteem for the
French nation, formed in a residence of seven years
chiefly among them, and a sincere desire to preserve
the friendship, which has been so much for the
honor and interest of both nations; if, while the
conscious honor and integrity of the people of
America and the internal sentiment of their own
power and energies must be preserved, an earn
est endeavor to investigate every just cause, and
remove every colorable pretence of complaint; if
an intention to pursue, by amicable negotiation, a
reparation for the injuries that have been com
mitted on the commerce of our fellow-citizens, by
whatever nation, and, if success cannot be obtained,
to lay the facts before the Legislature, that they may
consider what further measures the honor and inter
ests of the government and its constituents demand;
if a resolution to do justice, as far as may depend upon

96 JOHN ADAMS.

me, at all times and to all nations, and maintain peace,
friendship, and benevolence with all the world; if
an unshaken confidence in the honor, spirit, and re
sources of the American people, on which I have so
often hazarded my all, and never been deceived; if
elevated ideas of the high destinies of this country,
and of my own duties toward it, founded on a know
ledge of the moral principles and intellectual improve
ments of the people, deeply engraven on my mind in
early life, and not obscured, but exalted, by exper
ience and age; and with humble reverence, I feel it
my duty to add, if a veneration for the religion of the
people who profess and call themselves Christians,
and a fixed resolution to consider a decent respect
for Christianity among the best recommendations for
the public service, can enable me, in any degree, to
comply with your wishes, it shall be my strenuous en
deavor that this sagacious injunction of the two
Houses shall not be without effect.

With this great example before me — with the sense
and spirit, the faith and honor, the duty and interest
of the same American people, pledged to support the
Constitution of the United States, I entertain no
doubt of its continuance in all its energy; and my
mind is prepared, without hesitation, to lay myself
under the most solemn obligations to support it to
the utmost of my power.

And may that Being who is supreme over all, the
patron of order, the fountain of justice, and the pro
tector, in all ages of the world, of virtuous liberty,
continue his blessing upon this nation and its govern
ment, and give it all possible success and duration,
consistent with the ends of his providence !

JOHN ADAMS. 97

THE BOSTON MASSACRE.

FIRST DAY'S SPEECH IN DEFENCE OF THE BRITISH SOL
DIERS ACCUSED OF MURDERING ATTUCKS, GRAY AND
OTHERS, IN THE BOSTON RIOT OF 1 7/O.

May it Please Your Honor, and You, Gentlemen of the Jury :

I AM for the prisoner at the bar, and shall apologize
for it only in the words of the Marquis Beccaria : " If
I can but be the instrument of preserving one life, his
blessings and tears of transport shall be a sufficient
consolation for me for the contempt of all mankind."

As the prisoners stand before you for their lives,
it may be proper to recollect with what temper the
law requires we should proceed to this trial. The
form of proceeding at their arraignment has discov
ered that the spirit of the law upon such occasions is
conformable to humanity, to common-sense and feel
ing; that it is all benignity and candor. And the
trial commences with the prayer of the court, ex
pressed by the clerk, to the Supreme Judge of judges,
empires, and worlds, " God send you a good deliver
ance."

We find in the rules laid down by the greatest
English judges, who have been the brightest of man
kind : We are to look upon it as more beneficial that
many guilty persons should escape unpunished than
one innocent should suffer. The reason is, because
it is of more importance to the community that inno
cence should be protected than it is that guilt should
be punished; for guilt and crimes are so frequent in
the world that all of them cannot be punished;

98 JOHN ADAMS.

and many times they happen in such a manner
ner that it is not of much consequence to the pub
lic whether they are punished or not. But when in
nocence itself is brought to the bar and condemned,
especially to die, the subject will exclaim, " It is im
material whether I behave well or ill, for virtue itself
is no security." And if such a sentiment as this
should take place in the mind of the subject, there
would be an end to all security whatsoever. I will read
the words of the .law itself.

The rules I shall produce to you from Lord Chief-
Justice Hale, whose character as a lawyer, a man of
learning and philosophy, and a Christian, will be dis
puted by nobody living; one of the greatest and best
characters the English nation ever produced. His
words are these :

2 H. H. P. C. " Tutius semper est errare, in ac-
quietando quam in puniendo, ex parte misericordise
quam ex parte justitise." — " It is always safer to err
in acquitting than punishing, on the part of mercy
than the part of justice."

The next is from the same authority, 305 :

" Tutius erratur ex parte mitiori." — " It is always
safer to err on the milder side, the side of mercy."

H. H. P. C. 509. " The best rule in doubtful cases
is rather to incline to acquittal than conviction."

And on page 300 :

" Quod dubitas, ne feceris." — " Where you are

JOHN ADAMS. 99

doubtful never act; that is, if you doubt of the pris
oner's guilt, never declare him guilty."

This is always the rule, especially in cases of life.
Another rule from the same author, 289, where he
says :

" In some cases presumptive evidences go far to
prove a person guilty, though there is no express
proof of the fact to be committed by him ; but then it
must be very \varily expressed, for it is better five
guilty persons should escape unpunished than one in
nocent person should die."

The next authority shall be from another judge of
equal character, considering the age wherein he lived ;
that is Chancellor Fortescue, in " Praise of the Laws
of England," page 59. This is a very ancient writer
on the English law. His words are :

" Indeed, one would rather, much rather, that twen
ty guilty persons escape punishment of death, than
one innocent person be condemned and suffer capi
tally."

Lord Chief- Justice Hale says:

" It is beter five guilty persons escape, than one
innocent person suffer."

Lord Chancellor Fortescue, you see, carries the
matter further, and says :

"Indeed, one had rather, much rather, that twen-
4—1

IOO JOHN ADAMS.

ty guilty persons should escape than one innocent
person suffer capitally."

Indeed, this rule is not peculiar to the English law ;
there never was a system of laws in the world in
which this rule did not prevail. It prevailed in the
•ancient Roman law, and, which is more remarkable,
it prevails in the modern Roman law. Even the
judges in the Courts of Inquisition, who with racks,
burnings, and scourges, examine criminals — even
there they preserve it as a maxim, that it is better the
guilty should escape punishment than the innocent
suffer. " Satius esse nocentem absolvi quam inno-
centem damnari." This is .the temper we ought to
set out with, and these the rules we are to be gov
erned by. And I shall take it for granted, as a first
principle, that the eight prisoners at the bar had bet
ter be all acquitted, though we should admit them all
to be guilty, than that any one of them should, by your
verdict, be found guilty, being innocent.

I shall now consider the several divisions of law
under which the evidence will arrange itself.

The action now before you is homicide; that is,
the killing of one man by another. The law calls it
homicide ; but it is not criminal in all cases for one
man to slay another. Had the prisoners been on the
Plains of Abraham and slain a hundred Frenchmen
apiece, the English law would have considered it as
a commendable action, virtuous and praiseworthy;
so that every instance of killing a man is not a crime
in the eyes of the law. There are many other in
stances which I cannot enumerate — an officer that

JOHN ADAMS. IOI

executes a person under sentence of death, etc. So
that, gentlemen, every instance of one man's killing
another is not a crime, much less a crime to be pun
ished with death. But to descend to more particu
lars.

The law divides homicide into three branches; the
first is " justifiable," the second " excusable/' and the
third " felonious." Felonious homicide is subdivided
into two branches ; the first is murder, which is killing
with malice aforethought ; the second is manslaughter,
which is killing a man on a sudden provocation.
Here, gentlemen, are four sorts of homicide; and
you are to consider whether all the evidence amounts
to the first, second, third, or fourth of these heads.
The fact was the slaying five unhappy persons that
night. You are to consider whether it was justifi
able, excusable or felonious ; and if felonious, whether
it was murder or manslaughter. One of these four
it must be. You need not divide your attention to
any more particulars. I shall, however, before I
come to the evidence, show you several authorites
which will assist you and me in contemplating the
evidence before us.

I shall begin with justifiable homicide. If an offi
cer, a sheriff, execute a man on the gallows, draw and
quarter him, as in case of high treason, and cut off
his head, this is justifiable homicide. It is his duty.
So also, gentlemen, the law has planted fences and
barriers around every individual; it is a castle round
every man's person, as well as his house. As the love
of God and our neighbor comprehends the whole duty
of man, so self-love and social comprehend all the

102 JOHN ADAMS.

duties we owe to mankind; and the first branch is
self-love, which is not only our indisputable right,
but our clearest duty. By the laws of nature, this
is interwoven in the heart of every individual. God
Almighty, whose law we cannot alter, has implanted
it there, and we can annihilate ourselves as easily as
root out this affection for ourselves. It is the first
and strongest principle in our nature. Justice Black-
stone calls it " The primary canon in the law of na-
'ture." That precept of our holy religion which com
mands us to love our neighbor as ourselves does not
command us to love our neighbor better than our
selves, or so well. No Christian divine has given this
interpretation. The precept enjoins that our bene
volence to our fellow-men should be as real and sin
cere as our affection to ourselves, not that it should
be as great in degree. A man is authorized, there
fore, by common-sense and the laws of England, as
well as those of nature, to love himself better than
his fellow-subject. If two persons are cast away at
sea, and get on a plank (a case put by Sir Francis
Bacon), and the plank is insufficient to hold them both,
the one has a right to push the other off to save him
self. The rules of the common law, therefore, which
authorize a man to preserve his own life at the ex
pense of another's, are not contradicted by any di
vine or moral law. We talk of liberty and property,
but if we cut up the law of self-defence, we cut up
the foundation of both; and if we give up this, the
rest is of very little value, and therefore this princi
ple must be strictly attended to; for whatsoever the
law pronounces in the case of these eight soldiers will

JOHN ADAMS.

he the law to other persons and after ages. All the
persons that have slain mankind in this country from
the beginning to this day had better have been ac
quitted than that a wrong rule and precedent should
be established.

I shall now read to you a few authorities on this
subject of self-defence. Foster, 273 (in the case of
justifiable self-defence) :

' The injured party may repel force with force in
defence of person, habitation, or property, against
one who manifestly intendeth and endeavoreth wirh
violence or surprise to commit a known felony upon
either. In these cases he is not obliged to retreat,
but may pursue his adversary till he finds himself out
of danger; and if in a conflict between them he hap-
peneth to kill, such killing is justifiable."

I must entreat you to consider the words of this
authority. The injured person may repel force by
force against any who endeavoreth to commit any
kind of felony on him or his. Here the rule is, I
have a right to stand on my own defence, if you in
tend to commit felony. If any of the persons made
an attack on these soldiers, with an intention to rob
them, if it was but to take their hats feloniously, they
had a right to kill them on the spot, and had no busi
ness to retreat. If a robber meet me in the street
and command me to surrender my purse, I have a
right to kill him without asking any questions. If a
person commit a bare assault on me, this will not jus
tify killing; but if he assault me in such a manner as

104 JOHN ADAMS.

to discover an intention to kill me, I have a right to
destroy him, that I may put it out of his power to kill
me. In the case you will have to consider, I do not
know there was any attempt to steal from these per
sons; however, there were some persons concerned
who would, probably enough, have stolen, if there had
been anything to steal, and many were there who had
no such disposition. But this is not the point we aim
at. The question is, Are you satisfied the people
made the attack in order to kill the soldiers? If
you are satisfied that the people, whoever they were,
made that assault with a design to kill or maim the
soldiers, this was such an assault as will justify the
soldiers killing in their own defence. Further, it
seems to me, we may make another question, whether
you are satisfied that their real intention was to kill
or maim, or not? If any reasonable man in the situa
tion of one of these soldiers would have had reason
to believe in the time of it, that the people came with
an intention to kill him, whether you have this satis
faction now or not in your own minds, they were
justifiable, at least excusable in firing. You and I
may be suspicious that the people who made this as
sault on the soldiers did it to put them to flight, on
purpose that they might go exulting about the town
afterward in triumph; but this will not do. You
must place yourselves in the situation of Weems and
Killroy — consider yourselves as knowing that the
-prejudice of the world about you thought you came
to dragoon them into obedience, to statutes, instruc
tions, mandates, and edicts, which they thoroughly
detested — that many of these people were thoughtless

10$

and inconsiderate, old and young, sailors and lands
men, negroes and mulattoes — that they, the soldiers,,
had no friends about them, the rest were in O£>posi-
tion to them; with all the bells ringing to call the
town together to assist the people in King Street, for
they knew by that time that there was no fire; the
people shouting, huzzaing, and making the mob whis
tle, as they call it, which, when a boy makes it in the
street is no formidable thing, but when made by a.
multitude is a most hideous shriek, almost as terrible
as an Indian yell ; the people crying, " Kill them, kill
them. Knock them over," heaving snowballs, oyster
shells, clubs, white-birch sticks three inches and a.
half in diameter; consider yourselves in this situa
tion, and then judge whether a reasonable man in the
soldiers' situation would not have concluded they were
going to kill him. I believe if I were to reverse
the scene, I should bring it home to our own bosoms.
Suppose Colonel Marshall when he came out of his
own door and saw these grenadiers coming down
with swords, etc., have thought it proper to have ap
pointed a military watch; suppose he had assembled
Gray and Attucks that were killed, or any other per
son in town, and appointed them in that situation as,
a military watch, and there had come from Murray's
barracks thirty or forty soldiers with no other arms,
than snowballs, cakes of ice, oyster shells, cinders,,
and clubs, and attacked this military watch in this,
manner, what do you suppose would have been the
feelings and reasonings of any of our householders?
I confess, I believe they would not have borne one-
half of what the witnesses have sworn the soldiers

IO6 JOHN ADAMS.

bore, till they had shot down as many as were neces
sary to intimidate and disperse the rest; because the
law does not oblige us to bear insults to the danger
of our lives, to stand still with such a number of peo
ple around us, throwing such things at us, and threat
ening our lives, until we are disabled to defend our
selves.

Foster, 274 : " Where a known felony is attempted
upon the person, be it to rob or murder, here the party
assaulted may repel force with force, and even his
own servant, then attendant on him, or any other
person present, may interpose for preventing mis
chief, and if death ensue, the party so interposing will
be justified. In this case nature and social duty co
operate."

Hawkins, P. C, Chapter 28, Section 25, toward the
end : " Yet it seems that a private person, a fortiori,
an officer of justice, who happens unavoidably to kill
another in endeavoring to defend himself from or
suppress dangerous rioters, may justify the fact in
asmuch as he only does his duty in aid of the public
justice."

Section 24 : " And I can see no reason why a per
son, who, without provocation, is assaulted by another,
in any place whatsoever, in such manner as plainly
shows an intent to murder him, as by discharging a
pistol, or pushing at him with a drawn sword, etc.,
may not justify killing such an assailant, as much as
if he had attempted to rob him. For is not he who
attempts to murder me more injurious than he who

JOHN ADAMS. IO/

barely attempts to rob me? And can it be more justi
fiable to fight for my goods than for my life? "

And it is not only highly agreable to reason that
a man in such circumstances may lawfully kill another,
but it seems also to be confirmed by the general tenor
of our books, which, speaking of homicide se defendo,
suppose it done in some quarrel or affray.

Hawkins, p. 71, § 114: "And so, perhaps the kill
ing of dangerous rioters may be justified by any pri
vate persons, who cannot otherwise suppress them
or defend themselves from them, inasmuch as every
private person seems to be authorized by the law to
arm himself for the purposes aforesaid."

Here every private person is authorized to arm
himself ; and on the strength of this authority I do
not deny the inhabitants had a right to arm them
selves at that time for their defence, not for offence.
That distinction is material, and must be attended to.

Hawkins, p. 75, § 14 : " And not only he who on an
assault retreats to the wall, or some such strait, beyond
which he can go no further before he kills the other,
is judged by the law to act upon unavoidable neces
sity ; but also he who being assaulted in such a manner
and in such a place that he cannot go back without
manifestly endangering his life, kills the other with
out retreating at all."

Section 16: " And an officer who kills one that in
sults him in the execution of his office, and where a
private person that kills one who feloniously assaults

JOHN ADAMS.

•him in the highway, may justify the fact without ever
giving back at all."

There is no occasion for the magistrate to read the
Riot Act. In the case before you, I suppose you will
"be satisfied when you come to examine the witnesses
and compare it with the rules of the common law, ab
stracted from all mutiny acts and articles of war, that
these soldiers were in such a situation that they could
not help themselves. People were coming from Royal
Exchange Lane, and other parts of the town, with
clubs and cordwood sticks; the soldiers were planted
by the wall of the Custom House ; they could not re
treat; they were surrounded on all sides, for there
were people behind them as well as before them ; there
were a number of people in the Royal Exchange Lane ;
the soldiers were so near to the Custom House that
they could not retreat, unless they had gone into the
brick wall of it. I shall show you presently that all the
party concerned in this unlawful design were guilty
of what any one of them did; if anybody threw a
snowball it was the act of the whole party; if any
struck with a club or threw a club, and the club had
killed anybody, the whole party would have been
guilty of murder in the law. Lord Chief-Justice Holt,
in Mawgrige's case (Keyling, 128), says:

" Now, it has been held, that if A of his malice pre
pense assaults B to kill him, and B drawls his sword
and attacks A and pursues him, then A, for his safe
ty, gives back and retreats to a wall, and B still pur
suing him with his drawn sw.ord, A in his defence kills

JOHN ADAMS. I(X>

B ; this is murder in A. For A having malice against
B, and in pursuance thereof endeavoring to kill him, is.
answerable for all the consequences of which he was
the original cause. It is not reasonable for any man
that is dangerously assaulted, and when he perceives *
his life in danger from his adversary, but to have liber
ty for the security of his own life, to pursue him that
maliciously assaulted him; for he that has manifested
that he has malice against another is not fit to be trust
ed with a dangerous weapon in his hand. And so re
solved by all the judges when they met at Seargeant's
Inn, in preparation for my Lord Morley's trial."

In the case here we will take Montgomery, if you
please, when he was attacked by the stout man with a
stick, who aimed it at his head, with a number of peo
ple round him crying out, " Kill them, kill them." Had
he not a right to kill the man? If all the party were
guilty of the assault made by the stout man, and all of
them had discovered malice in their hearts, had not
Montgomery a right, according to Lord Chief-Justice
Holt, to put it out of their power to wreak their malice
upon him,? I will not at present look for any more
authorities in the point of self-defence ; you will be able-
to judge from these how far the law goes in justifying-
or excusing any person in defence of himself, or tak
ing away the life of another who threatens him in life
or limb. The next point is this : that in case of an un
lawful assembly, all and every one of the assembly is
guilty of all and every unlawful act committed by any
one of that assembly in prosecution of the unlawful de
sign set out upon.

IIO JOHN ADAMS.

Rules of law should be universally known, whatever
•effect they may have on politics; they are rules of
common law, the law of the land; and it is certainly
true, that wherever there is an unlawful assembly, let
it consist of many persons or of a few, every man in
it is guilty of every unlawful act committed by any
one of the whole party, be they more or be they less,
in pursuance of their unlawful design. This is the
policy of the law ; to discourage and prevent riots, in
surrections, turbulence, and tumults.

In the continual vicissitudes of human things, amid
the shocks of fortune and the whirls of passion that take
place at certain critical seasons, even in the mildest
government, the people are liable to run into riots and
tumults. There are Church-quakes and State-quakes
in the moral and political world, as well as earth
quakes, storms, and tempests in the physical. Thus
much, however, must be said in favor of the people
and of human nature, that it is a general, if not a uni
versal truth, that the aptitude of the people to mutin
ies, seditions, tumults, and insurrections, is in direct
proportion to the despotism of the government. In gov
ernments completely despotic — that is, where the will
of one man is the only law, this disposition is most
prevalent. In aristocracies next; in mixed monarch
ies, less than either of the former ; in complete repub
lics the least of all, and under the same form of gov
ernments as in a limited monarchy, for example, the
virtue and wisdom of the administrations may gener
ally be measured by the peace and order that are seen
among the people. However this may be, such is the
imperfection of all things in this world, that no form

JOHN ADAMS. Ill

of government, and perhaps no virtue or wisdom in
the administration, can at all times avoid riots and dis
orders among the people.

Now, it is from this difficulty that the policy of the
law has framed such strong discouragements to secure
the people against tumults; because, when they once
begin, there is danger of their running to such ex
cesses as will overturn the whole system of govern
ment. There is the rule from the reverend sage of
the law, so often quoted before :

i H. H. P. C. 437 : " All present, aiding and as
sisting, are equally principal with him that gave the
stroke whereof the party died. For though one gave
the stroke, yet in interpretation of law it is the stroke
of every person that was present, aiding and assist-
ing."

i H. H. P. C. 440 : " If divers come with one assent
to do mischief, as to kill, to rob or beat, and one doeth
it, they are all principals in the felony. If many be
present and one only give the stroke whereof the
party dies, they are all principal, if they came for that
purpose."

Now, if the party at Dock Square came with an in
tention only to beat the soldiers, and began to affray
with them, and any of them had been accidentally killed
it would have been murder, because it was an unlaw
ful design they came upon. If but one does it they are
all considered in the eyes of the law guilty ; if any one
gives the mortal stroke, they are all principals here,
therefore there is a reversal of the scene. If you are

.112 JOHN ADAMS.

isatisfied that these soldiers were there on a lawful de
sign, and it should be proved any of them shot with
out provocation, and killed anybody, he only is answer
able for it.

First Male's Pleas of the Crown, i H. H. P. C. 444:
"" Although if many come upon an unlawful design,
and one of the company kill one of the adverse party
in pursuance of that design, all are principals; yet if
many be together upon a lawful account, and one of
the company kill another of the adverse party, without
any particular abetment of the rest to this fact of
"homicide, they are not all guilty that are of the com
pany, but only those that gave the stroke or actually
abetted him to do it."

i H. H. P. C. 445 : "'In case of a riotous assembly to
rob or steal deer, or to do any unlawful act of violence,
there the offence of one is the offence of all the com
pany."

In another place, i H. H. P. C. 439 : " The Lord
"Dacre and divers others went to steal deer in the park
•of one Pellham. Raydon, one of the company, killed
;the keeper in the park, the Lord Dacre and the rest
xDf the company being in the other part of the park.
Yet it was adjudged murder in them all, and they
died for it." And he quotes Crompton 25, Dalton 93,
p. 241 : " So that in so strong a case as this, where
this nobleman set out to hunt deer in the ground of
;another, he was in one part of the park and his com
pany in another part, yet they were all guilty of mur
der."

JOHN ADAMS, II>

The next is :

Kale's Pleas of the Crown, i H. H. P. C. 440:'
" The case of Drayton Bassit ; divers persons doing an
unlawful act, all are guilty of what is done by one."

Foster 353, 354 : " A general resolution against all
opposers, whether such resolution appears upon evi
dence to have been actually and implicitly entered into
by the confederates, or may reasonably be collected
from their number, arms or behavior, at or before the
scene of action, such resolutions so proved have al
ways been considered as strong ingredients in cases-
of this kind. And in cases of homicide committed in
consequence of them, every person present, in the
sense of the law, when the homicide has been involved
in the guilt of him that gave the mortal blow."

Foster : " The cases of Lord Dacre, mentioned by
Hale, and of Pudsey, reported by Crompton and cited
by Hale, turned upon this point. The offences they
respectively stood charged with, as principals, were,
committed far out of their sight and hearing, and yet:
both were held to be present. It was sufficient that
at the instant the facts were committed, they were of
the same party and upon the same pursuit, and un
der the same engagements and expectations of mutual
defence and support with those that did the facts."

Thus far have proceeded, and I believe it will not.
be hereafter disputed by anybody, that this law ought,
to be known to every one who has any disposition to-
be concerned in an unlawful assembly, whatever mis
chief happens in the prosecution of the design they set
out upon, all are answerable for it. It is necessary we

114 JOHN ADAMS.

should consider the definitions of some other crimes
as well as murder; sometimes one crime gives occa
sion to another. An assault is sometimes the occa
sion of manslaughter, sometimes of excusable homi
cide. It is necessary to consider what is a riot. I
Hawkins, ch. 65, § 2 : I shall give you the definition
of it:

Were there not more than three persons in
violence, for the accomplishment of any design what
ever, all concerned are rioters/'

Were there are not more than three persons in
Dock Square? Did they not agree to go to King
Street, and attack the main guard? Where, then, is
the reason for hesitation at calling it a riot? If we
cannot speak the law as it is, where is our liberty?
And this is law, that wherever more than three per
sons are gathered together to accomplish anything
with force, it is a riot.

i Hawkins, ch. 65, § 2 : " Wherever more than
three persons use force and violence, all who are
•concerned therein are rioters. But in some cases
wherein the law authorizes force, it is lawful and com
mendable to use it. As for a sheriff [And. 67 Poph.
121 ], or constable [3, H. 7, 10, 6], or perhaps even for
a private person [Poph. 121, Moore 656], to assemble
a competent number of people, in order with force to
oppose rebels or enemies or rioters and afterward, with
.such force actually to suppress them/'

I do not mean to apply the word rebel on this oc-

JOHN ADAMS. 11$

casion; I have no reason to suppose that ever there
was one in Boston, at least among the natives of the
country; but rioters are in the same situation, as far
as my argument is concerned, and proper officers may
suppress rioters, and so may even private persons.

If we strip ourselves free from all military laws,
mutiny acts, articles of war and soldiers' oaths, and
consider these prisoners as neighbors, if any of their
neighbors were attacked in King Street, they had a
right to collect together to suppress this riot and com
bination. If any number of persons meet together at
a fair or market, and happen to fall together by the
ears, they are not guilty of a riot, but of a sudden af
fray. Here is another paragraph, which I must read
to you :

i Hawkins, ch. 65, § 3 : " If a number of persons
being met together at a fair or market, or on any other
lawful or innocent occasion, happen, on a sudden
quarrel, to fall together by the ears, they are not
guilty of a riot, but of a sudden affray only, of which
none are guilty but those who actually began it," eta

It would be endless, as well as superfluous, to exam
ine whether every particular person engaged in a riot
\vere in truth one of the first assembly or actually had
a previous knowledge of the design thereof. I have
endeavored to produce the best authorities, and to give
you the rules of law in their words, for I desire not
to advance anything of my own. I choose to lay down
the rules of law from authorities which cannot be dis
puted. Another point is this, whether and how far

3l6 JOHN ADAMS.

a private person may aid another in distress ? Suppose
a press-gang should come on shore in this town and
assault any sailor or householder in King Street, in
order to carry him on board one of his Majesty's ships,
and impress him without any warrant as a seaman in
his Majesty's service; how far do you suppose the in
habitants would think themselves warranted by law to
interpose against that lawless press-gang? I agree
that such a press-gang would be as unlawful an as
sembly as that was in King Street. If they were to
press an inhabitant and carry him off for a sailor,,
would not the inhabitants think themselves warrant
ed by law to interpose in behalf of their fellow-citi
zen? Now, gentlemen, if the soldiers had no right to
interpose in the relief of the sentry, the inhabitants
would have no right to interpose with regard to the
citizen, for whatever is law for a soldier is law for a
sailor and for a citizen. They all stand upon an equal
footing in this respect. I believe we shall not have it
disputed that it would be lawful to go into King
Street and help an honest man there against the
press-master. We have many instances in the books
which authorize it.

Now, suppose you should have a jealousy in your
minds that the people who made this attack upon the
sentry had nothing in their intention more than to
take him off his post, and that was threatened by
some. Suppose they intended to go a little further*
and tar and feather him, or to ride him (as the phrase.:
is in Hudibras), he would have had a good right to/
have stood upon his defence — the defence of his lib
erty; and if he could not preserve that without the

JOHN ADAMS. 1 1/

hazard of his own life, he would -have been warranted
in depriving those of life who were endeavoring to
deprive him of his. That is a point I would not give
up for my right hand — nay, for my life.

Well, I say, if the people did this, or if this was only
their intention, surely the officers and soldiers had a
right to go to his relief; and therefore they set out
upon a lawful errand. They were, therefore, a law
ful assembly, if we only consider them as private sub
jects and fellow-citizens, without regard to mutiny
acts, articles of war, or soldiers' oaths. A private
person, or any number of private persons, has a right
to go to the assistance of a fellow subject in distress
or danger of his life, when assaulted and in danger
from a few or a multitude.

Keyl. 136: " If a man perceives another by force
to be injuriously treated, pressed, and restrained of
his liberty, though the person abused doth not com
plain or call for aid or assistance, and others, out of
•compassion, shall come to his rescue, and kill any of
those that shall so restrain him, that is manslaughter."

Keyl. : " A and others without any warrant impress
B to serve the king at sea. B quietly submitted, and
went off with the press-master. Hugett and the others
pursued them, and required a sight of their warrant;
"but they showing a piece of paper that was not a suf
ficient warrant, thereupon Hugett with the others
-drew their swords, and the press-masters theirs, and
so there was a combat, and those who endeavored to
rescue the pressed man killed one of the pretended
press-masters. This was but manslaughter ; for when

Il8 JOHN ADAMS.

the liberty of one subject is invaded, it affects all the
rest. It is a provocation to all people, as being of ill-
example and pernicious consequences."

Lord Raymond, 1,301. The Queen versus Tooley,
et al. Lord Chief- Justice Holt says : "The prisoner
{i.e. Tooley) in this had sufficient provocation; for if
one be impressed upon an unlawful authority, it is a
sufficient provocation to all people out of compassion;
and where the liberty of the subject is invaded, it is a
provocation to all the subjects of England, etc. ; and
surely a man ought to be concerned for Magna Charta
and the laws; and if any one, against the law, im
prisons a man, he is an offender against Magna
Charta."

I am not insensible to Sir Michael Foster's observa
tions on these cases, but apprehend they do not invali
date the authority of them as far as I now apply them
to the purposes of my argument. If a stranger, a
mere fellow-subject, may interpose to defend the lib
erty, he may, too, defend the life of another individu
al. But, according to the evidence, some imprudent
people, before the sentry, proposed to take him off his
post ; others threatened his life ; and intelligence of this
was carried to the main guard before any of the pris
oners turned out. They were then ordered out to
relieve the sentry; and any of our fellow-citizens
might lawfully have gone upon the same errand. Th^.y
were, therefore, a lawful assembly.

I have but one point of law more to consider, and
that is this : In the case before you I do not pretend
to prove that every one of the unhappy persons slain

JOHN ADAMS. 119

was concerned in the riot. The authorities read to
you just now say it would be endless to prove wheth
er every person that was present and in a riot was
concerned in planning the first enterprise or not. Nay,
I believe it but justice to say some were perfectly in
nocent of the occasion. I have reason to suppose that
one of them was — Mr. Maverick. He was a very
worthy young man, as he has been represented to me,
and had no concern in the rioters' proceedings of that
night ; and I believe the same may be said in favor of
one more at least, Mr. Caldwell, who was slain; and,
therefore, many people may think that as he and per
haps another was innocent, therefore innocent blood
having been shed, that must be expiated by the death
of somebody or other. I take notice of this, because
one gentleman was nominated by the sheriff for a
juryman upon this trial, because he had said he be
lieved Captain Preston was innocent, but innocent
blood had been shed, and therefore somebody ought
to be hanged for it, which he thought was indirectly
giving his opinion in this cause. I am afraid many
other persons have formed such an opinion. I do not
take it to be a rule, that where innocent blood is shed
the person must die. In the instance of the French
men on the Plains of Abraham, they were in
nocent, fighting for their king and country;
their blood is as innocent as any. There may
be multitudes killed, when innocent blood is
shed on all sides; so that it is not an invariable
rule. I will put a case in which, I dare say, all will
agree with me. Here are two persons, the father and
the son, go out a-hunting. They take different roads.

\20 JOHN ADAMS.

The father hears a rushing among the bushes, takes
it to be game, fires, and kills his son, through a mis
take. Here is innocent blood shed, but yet nobody will
say the father ought to die for it. So that the gen
eral rule of law is, that whenever one person has a
right to do an act, and that act, by any accident, takes
away the life of another, it is excusable. It bears the
same regard to the innocent as to the guilty. If two
men are together, and attack me, and I have a right
to kill them, I strike at them, and by mistake strike a
third and kill him, as I had a right to kill the first, my
killing the other will be excusable, as it happened by
accident. If I, in the heat of passion, aim a blow at a
person who has assaulted me, and aiming at him I kill
another person, it is but manslaughter.

Foster, 261, § 3 : " If an action unlawful in itself is
done deliberately, and with intention of mischief, or
great bodily harm to particulars, or of mischief indis
criminately, fall it where it may, and death ensues,
against or beside the original intention of the party,
it will be murder. But if such mischievous intention
doth not appear, which is matter of fact, and to be
collected from circumstances, and the act was done
heedlessly and inconsiderately, it will be manslaugh
ter, not accidental death; because the act upon
which death ensued was unlawful."

Suppose, in this case, the mulatto man was the per
son who made the assault; suppose he was concerned
in the unlawful assembly, and this party of soldiers,
endeavoring to defend themselves against him, hap-

JOHN ADAMS. 121

pened to kill another person, who was innocent —
though the soldiers had no reason, that we know of, to
think any person there, at least of that number who
were crowding about them, innocent ; they might, na
turally enough, presume all to be guilty of the riot
and assault, and to come with the same design — I say,
if on firing on those who were guilty, they accidental
ly killed an innocent person, it was not their fault.
They were obliged to defend themselves against those
who were pressing upon them. They are not answer
able for it with their lives; for on supposition it was
justifiable or excusable to kill Attucks, or any other
person, it will be equally justifiable or excusable if in
firing at him they killed another, who was innocent;
or if the provocation was such as to mitigate the guilt
of manslaughter, it will equally mitigate the guilt, if
they killed an innocent man undesignedly, in aiming
at him who gave the provocation, according to Judge
Foster; and as this point is of such consequence, I
must produce some more authorities for it :

i Hawkins, 84 : " Also, if a third person, acci
dentally Happen to be killed by one engaged in a com
bat, upon a sudden quarrel, it seems that he who killed
him is guilty of manslaughter only," etc. H. H.
P. C, 442, to the same point; and i H. H. P. C., 484,
and 4 Black, 27.

I shall now consider one question more, and that
is concerning provocation. We have hitherto been
considering self-defence, and how far persons may
go in defending themselves against aggressors, even
by taking away their lives, and now proceed to con-

122 JOHN ADAMS.

sider such provocations as the law allows to mitigate
or extenuate the guilt of killing, where it is not justi
fiable or excusable. An assault and battery commit
ted upon a man in such a manner as not to endanger
his life is such a provocation as the law allows to re
duce killing down to the crime of manslaughter. Now,
the law has been made on more considerations than
we are capable of making at present; the law consid
ers a man as capable of bearing anything and every
thing but blows. I may reproach a man as much as
I please; I may call him a thief, robber, traitor, scoun
drel, coward, lobster, bloody back, etc., and if he kill
me it will be murder, if nothing else but words pre
cede; but if from giving him such kind of 'language I
proceed to take him by the nose, or fillip him on the
forehead, that is an assault; that is a blow. The law
will not oblige a man to stand still and bear it; there
is the distinction. Hands off; touch me not. As soon
as you touch me, if I run you through the heart, it is
but manslaughter. The utility of this distinction, the
more you think of it the more you will be satisfied
with it. It is an assault whenever a blow is struck,
let it be ever so slight, and sometimes even without a
blow. The law considers man as frail and passion
ate. When his passions are touched, he will be thrown
off his guard, and therefore the law makes allowance
for this frailty — considers him as in a fit of passion,
not having the possession of his intellectual faculties,
and therefore does not oblige him to measure out his
blows with a yardstick, or weigh them in a scale. Let
him kill with a sword, gun, or hedge-stake, it is not
murder, but only manslaughter.

JOHN ADAMS. 123

Keyling's Report, 135. Regina versus Mawgrige.
"Rules supported by authority and general consent,
showing what are always allowed to be sufficient
provocations. First, if one man upon any words shall
make an assault upon another, either by pulling him
by the nose or filliping him on the forehead, and he
that is so assaulted shall draw his sword and immedi
ately run the other through, that is but manslaughter,
for the peace is broken by the person killed, and
with an indignity to him that received the assault. Be
sides, he that was so affronted might reasonably ap
prehend that he that treated him in that manner
might have some further design upon him."

So that here is the boundary, when a man is as
saulted and kills in consequence of that assault, it is
but manslaughter. I will just read as I go along the
definition of assault :

i Hawkins, ch. 62, § i : " An assault is an attempt
or offer, with force or violence, to do a corporal hurt
to another, as by striking at him with or without a
weapon, or presenting a gun at him at such a distance
to which the gun will carry, or pointing a pitchfork
at him, or by any other such like t done in angry,
threatening manner, etc. ; but no words can amount
to an assault."

Here is the definition of an assault, which is a suf
ficient provocation to soften killing down to man
slaughter :

i Hawkins, ch. 31, § 36: "Neither can he be

124 JOHN ADAMS.

thought guilty of a greater crime than manslaughter,
who, finding a man in bed with his wife, or being ac
tually struck by him, or pulled by the nose or filliped
upon the forehead, immediately kills him, or in the
defence of his person from an unlawful arrest, or in
the defence of his house from those who, claiming a
title to it, attempt forcibly to enter it, and to that pur
pose shoot at it," etc.

Every snowball, oyster shell, cake of ice, or bit of
cinder, that was thrown that night at the sentinel, was
an assault upon him; every one that was thrown at
t^ie party of soldiers was an assault upon themr
whether it hit any of them or not. I am guilty of an
assault if I present a gun at any person; and if I in
sult him in that manner and he shoots me, it is but
manslaughter.

Foster, 295, 296: "To what I have offered with
regard to sudden rencounters let me add, that the
blood already too much heated, kindleth afresh at ev
ery pass or blow. And in the tumult of the passions,
in which the mere instinct of self-preservation has no
inconsiderable share, the voice of reason is not heard ;
and therefore the law, in condescension to the infirm
ities of flesh and blood, doth extenuate the offence."

Insolent, scurrilous, or slanderous language, when
it precedes an assault, aggravates it.

Foster, 316: "We all know that words of re
proach, how grating and offensive soever, are in the
eye of the law no provocation in the case of voluntary

JOHN ADAMS. 1 25

homicide ; and yet every man who hath considered the
human frame, or but attended to the workings of his
own heart, knoweth that affronts of that kind pierce
deeper and stimulate in the veins more effectually
than a slight injury done to a third person, though
under the color of justice, possibly can."

I produce this to show the assault in this case was
aggravated by the scurrilous language which preced
ed it. Such words of reproach stimulate in the veins
and exasperate the mind, and no doubt if an assault
and battery succeeds them, killing under such provo
cation is softened to manslaughter, but killing with
out such provocation makes it murder.

126 PATRICK HENRY.

Henry, Patrick, a celebrated American orator and pa
triot, born at Studley, Hanover Co., Va., May 29, 1736 ;
died at Red Hill, Charlotte Co., Va., June 6, 1799. Adopt
ing, the profession of law, he quickly secured a large prac
tice, and in May, 1765, was elected to the House of Bur
gesses. The news of the passage of the Stamp Act had
just been received in America and Henry at once introduced
before the House resolutions "condemning the Act as un
constitutional and a menace to liberty, supporting them by
a speech of the most impassioned eloquence which made
him famous from that moment. Other notable speeches of
his are those on " The Bill of Rights," " A Nation — not a
Federation," " Liberty or Empire," The somewhat extrav
agant judgment of some of his American contemporaries
classed him as the greatest of orators, but without going to
such lengths it may be said that his place is with the great
est. Henry was five times governor of the State of Vir
ginia, but declined all public office after 1786.

"GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH."

DELIVERED IN THE VIRGINIA CONVENTION, ON A RESO
LUTION TO PUT THE COMMONWEALTH INTO A
STATE OF DEFENCE, MARCH 23, 1775.

Mr. President :

No MAN thinks more highly than I do of the patri
otism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentle
men who have just addressed the house. But dif
ferent men often see the same subject in different
lights; and, therefore, I hope it will not^De thought
disrespectful to those gentlemen, if, entertaining as
I do opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I

PATRICK HENRY.

PATRICK HENRY. I2/

shall speak forth my sentiments freely and without re
serve. This is no time for ceremony. The question
before the house is one of awful moment to this coun
try. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less
than a question of freedom or slavery ; and in propor
tion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the
freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we
can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfil the great re
sponsibility which we hold to God and our country.
Should I keep back my opinions at such a time,
through fear of giving offence, I should consider my
self as guilty of treason toward my country, and of an
act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which
I revere above all earthly kings.

Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the
illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes
against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that
siren, till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the
part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous
struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the
number of those, who, having eyes, see not, and hav
ing ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern
their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever
anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the
whole truth ; to know the worst, and to provide for it.

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided,
and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way
of judging of the future by the past. And judging
by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the
conduct of the British Ministry for the last ten years
to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been
pleased to solace themselves and the house. Is it that

128 PATRICK HENRY.

insidious smile with which our petition has been late
ly received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare
to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with
a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of
our petition comports with those warlike preparations
which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets,
and armies necessary to a work of love and reconcilia
tion ? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be rec
onciled, that force must be called in to win back our
love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are
the implements of war and subjugation ; the last argu
ments to which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir,
What means this martial array, if its purpose be not
to force us to submission ? Can gentlemen assign any
other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any
enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this
accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has
none. They are meant for us : they can be meant for
no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon
us those chains which the British Ministry have been
so long forging. And what have we to oppose ta
them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been
trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything
new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have
held the subject up in every light of which it is capa
ble; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to
entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall
we find, which have not been already exhausted ? Let
us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves longer.
Sir, we have done everything that could be done, to
avert the storm which is now coming on. We have
petitioned ; we have remonstrated ; we have supplicat-

PATRICK HENRY. 1 29

eel; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne,
and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyran
nical hands of the Ministry and Parliament. Our pe
titions have been slighted; our remonstrances have
produced additional violence and insult; our supplica
tions have been disregarded ; and we have been spurn
ed, with contempt, from the foot of the throne. In
vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope
of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any
room for hope. If we wish to be free — if we mean to
preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for
which we have been so long contending — if we mean
not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which
we have been so long engaged, and which we have
pledged ourselves never to abandon, until the glorious
object of our contest shall be obtained — we must
fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to
arms and to the God of Hosts is all that is left for us !
They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope
with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we
be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next
year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and
when a British guard shall be stationed in every
house ? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and
inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual re
sistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging
the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall
have bound us hand and foot ? Sir, we are not weak,
if we make a proper use of those means which the
God of nature hath placed in our power. Three mil
lions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty,
and in such a country as that which we possess, are
9

130 PATRICK HENRY.

invincible by any force which our enemy can send
against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles
alone. There is a just God who presides over the
destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to
fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the
strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the
brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were
base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire
from the contest. There is no retreat, but in submis
sion and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their
clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston ! The
war is inevitable — and let it come. I repeat it, sir, let
it come. *

It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentle
men may cry, Peace, Peace — but there is no peace.
The war is actually begun ! The next gale that sweeps
from the north will bring to our ears the clash of re
sounding arms! Our brethren are already in the
field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that
gentlemen wish ? What would they have ? Is life so
dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the
price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty
God ! I know not what course others may take ; but
as for me, give me liberty or give me death !

PATRICK HENRY. 131

"WE, THE PEOPLE" OR "WE, THE STATES" ?

DELIVERED IN THE VIRGINIA CONVENTION,, JUNE 4,

1778, ON THE PREAMBLE AND THE FIRST TWO

SECTIONS OF THE FIRST ARTICLE OF THE

FEDERAL CONSTITUTION.
Mr, Chairman :

THE public mind, as well as my own, is extremely
uneasy at the proposed change of government. Give
me leave to form one of the number of those who
wish to be thoroughly acquainted with the reasons of
this perilous and uneasy situation, and why we are
brought hither to decide on this great national ques
tion. I consider myself as the servant of the people of
this Commonwealth, as a sentinel over their rights,
liberty, and happiness. I represent their feelings
when I say that they are exceedingly uneasy, being
brought from that state of full security, which they
enjoy, to the present delusive appearance of things.
Before the meeting of the late Federal Convention at
Philadelphia, a general peace and a universal tran
quillity prevailed in this country, and the minds of
our citizens were at perfect repose ; but since that per
iod they are exceedingly uneasy and disquieted.
When I wished for an appointment to this convention,
my mind was extremely agitated for the situation of
public affairs. I conceive the Republic to be in ex
treme danger. If our situation be thus uneasy,
whence has arisen this fearful jeopardy? It arises
from this fatal system; it arises from a proposal to

change our government — a proposal that goes to the
S—i

132 PATRICK HENRY.

utter annihilation of the most solemn engagements
of the States — a proposal of establishing nine States
into a confederacy, to the eventual exclusion of four
States. It goes to the annihilation of these solemn
treaties we have formed with foreign nations. The
present circumstances of France, the good offices ren
dered us by that kingdom, require our most faithful
and most punctual adherence to our treaty with her.
We are in alliance with the Spaniards, the Dutch, the
Prussians; those treaties bound us as thirteen States,
confederated together. Yet here is a proposal to
sever that confederacy. Is it possible that we shall
abandon all our treaties and national engagements?
And for what ? I expected to have heard the reasons
of an event so unexpected to my mind, and many
others. Was our civil polity, or public justice, endan
gered or sapped ? Was the real existence of the coun
try threatened, or was this preceded by a mournful
progression of events ? This proposal of altering our
Federal Government is of a most alarming nature;
make the best of this new government — say it is com
posed of anything but inspiration — you ought to be ex
tremely cautious, watchful, jealous of your liberty;
for, instead of securing your rights, you may lose them
forever. If a wrong step be now made, the Republic
may be lost forever. If this new government will
not come up to the expectation of the people, and they
should be disappointed, their liberty will be lost, and
tyranny must and will arise. I repeat it again, and I
beg gentlemen to consider, that a wrong step, made
now, will plunge us into misery, and our Republic will
be lost. It will be necessary for this convention to

PATRICK HENRY. 133

have a faithful historical detail of the facts that pre
ceded the session of the Federal Convention, and the
reasons that actuated its members in proposing an en
tire alteration of government — and to demonstrate
the dangers that awaited us. If they were of such
awful magnitude as to warrant a proposal so extreme
ly perilous as this, I must assert that this convention
has an absolute right to a thorough discovery of ev
ery circumstance relative to this great event. And
here I would make this inquiry of those worthy char
acters who composed a part of the late Federal Con
vention. I am sure they were fully impressed with
the necessity of forming a great consolidated govern
ment, instead of a confederation. That this is a con
solidated government is demonstrably clear, and the
danger of such a government is, to my mind, very
striking. I have the highest veneration for those
gentlemen; but, sir, give me leave to demand what
right had they to say, " We, the People " ? My polit
ical curiosity, exclusive of my anxious solicitude for
the public welfare, leads me to ask who authorized
them to speak the language of "We, the People," in
stead of " We, the States " ? States are the charac
teristics and the soul of a confederation. If the States
be not the agents of this compact, it must be one great
consolidated national government of the people of all
the States. I have the highest respect for those gentle
men who formed the convention; and were some of
them not here, I would express some testimonial of es
teem for them. America had, on a former occasion,
put the utmost confidence in them — a confidence
which was well placed; and I am sure, sir, I would

134 PATRICK HENRY.

give up anything to them ; I would cheerfully confide
in them as my representatives. But, sir, on this great
occasion, I would demand the cause of their conduct.
Even from that illustrious man, who saved us by his
valor, I would have a reason for his conduct; that
liberty, which he has given us by his valor tells me to
ask this reason, and sure I am, were he here, he would
give us that reason: but there are other gentlemen
here who can give us this information. The people
gave them no power to use their name. That they
exceeded their power is perfectly clear. It is not
mere curiosity that actuates me; I wish to hear the
real, actual, existing danger, which should lead us
to take those steps so dangerous in my conception.
Disorders have arisen in other parts of America, but
here, sir, no dangers, no insurrection or tumult, has
happened; everything has been calm and tranquil.
But notwithstanding -this, we are wandering on the
great ocean of human affairs. I see no landmark to
guide us. We are running we know not whither. Dif
ference in opinion has gone to a degree of inflamma
tory resentment in different parts of the country,
which has been occasioned by this perilous innovation.
The Federal Convention ought to have amended the
old system ; for this purpose they were solely delegat
ed: the object of their mission extended to no other
consideration. You must therefore forgive the solici
tation of one unworthy member to know what danger
could have arisen under the present confederation,
and what are the causes of this proposal to change our
government.

PATRICK HENRY. 135

"A NATION— NOT A FEDERATION."

DELIVERED IN THE VIRGINIA CONVENTION ON THE
EIGHTH SECTION OF THE FEDERAL

CONSTITUTION.
Mr. Chairman :

IT is now confessed that this is a national govern
ment. There is not a single federal feature in it. It
has been alleged, within these walls, during the de
bates, to be national and federal, as it suited the
arguments of gentlemen.

But now, when we have heard of the definition of it,
it is purely national. The honorable member was
pleased to say that the sword and purse included
everything of consequence. And shall we trust them
out of our hands without checks and barriers? The
sword and purse are essentially necessary for the
government. Every essential requisite must be in
Congress. Where are the purse and sword of Vir
ginia? They must go to Congress. What is become
of your country? The Virginian government is but
a name. It clearly results, from his last argument,
that wre are to be consolidated.. We should be
thought unwise, indeed, to keep two hundred legisla
tors in Virginia, when the government is, in fact, gone
to Philadelphia or New York. We are, as a State, to
form no part of the government. Where are your
checks? The most essential objects of government
are to be administered by Congress. How, then, can
the State governments be any check upon them? If
we are to be a republican government, it will be con
solidated, not confederated.

136 PATRICK HENRY.

The means, says the gentleman, must be commens
urate to the end. How does this apply ? All things in
common are left with this government. There being*
an infinitude in the government, there must be an in
finitude of means to carry it on. This is a sort of
mathematical government that may appear well on
paper, but cannot sustain examination, or be safely re
duced to practice. The delegation of power to an ade
quate number of representatives, and an unimpeded
reversion of it back to the people, at short periods,
form the principal traits of a republican government.
The idea of a republican government, in that paper,
is something superior to the poor people. The govern
ing persons are the servants of the people. There, the
servants are greater than their masters ; because it in
cludes infinitude, and infinitude excludes every idea
of subordination. In this the creature has destroyed
and soared above the creator. For if its powers be
infinite, what rights have the people remaining? By
that very argument, despotism has made way in all
countries where the people unfortunately have been
enslaved by it. We are told, the sword and purse are
necessary for the- national defence. The junction of
these, without limitation, in the same hands, is, by
logical and mathematical conclusions, the description
of despotism.

The reasons adduced here to-day have long ago
been advanced in favor of passive obedience and non-
•resistance. In 1688, the British nation expelled their
monarch for attempting to trample on their liberties.
The doctrine of Divine Right and Passive Obedience
was said to be commanded by Heaven — it was incul-

PATRICK HENRY. 137

cated by his minions and adherents. He wanted to
possess, without control, the sword and the purse.
The attempt cost him his crown. This government
demands the same powers. I see reason to be more
and more alarmed. I fear it will terminate in despot
ism. As to his objection of the abuse of liberty, it is
denied. The political inquiries and promotions of the
peasants are a happy circumstance. A foundation of
knowledge is a great mark of happiness. When the
spirit of inquiry after political discernment goes forth
among the lowest of the people, it rejoices my heart.
Why such fearful apprehensions ? I defy him to show
that liberty has been abused. There has been no re
bellion here, though there was in Massachusetts. Tell
me of any country which has been so long without a
rebellion. Distresses have been patiently borne in this
country, which would have produced revolutions in
other countries. We strained every nerve to make
provisions to pay off our soldiers and officers. They,
though not paid, and greatly distressed at the conclu
sion of the war, magnanimously acquiesced. The de
preciation of the circulating currency very much in
volved many of them, and thousands of other citizens,
in absolute ruin; but the same patient fortitude and
forbearance marked their conduct. What would the
people of England have done in such a situation ? They
would have resisted the government, and murdered
the tyrant. But in this country no abuse of power has
taken place. It is only a general assertion, unsupport
ed, which suggests the contrary. Individual licen
tiousness will show its baneful consequences in every
country, let its government be what it may.

138 PATRICK HENRY.

But the honorable gentleman says responsibility
will exist more in this than in the British Govern
ment. It exists more in name than anything else. I
need not speak af the executive authority. But con
sider the two houses — the American Parliament. Are
the members of the Senate responsible? They may
try themselves, and, if found guilty on impeachment,
are to be only removed from office. In England the
greatest characters are brought to the block for their
sinister administration. They have a power there, not
to dismiss them from office, but from life, for mal
practices. The king himself cannot pardon in this
case. How does it stand with respect to your lower
house? You have but ten. Whatever number may
be there, six is a majority. Will your country afford
no temptation, no money to corrupt them? Cannot
six fat places be found to accommodate them ? They
may, after the first Congress, take any place. There
will be a multiplicity of places. Suppose they cor
ruptly obtain places. Where will you find them to
punish them? At the furthest part of the Union; in
the ten miles square, or within a State where there is
a stronghold. What are you to do when these men
return from Philadelphia? Two things are to be
done. To detect the offender and bring him to pun
ishment. You will find it difficult to do either.

In England, the proceedings are openly transacted.
They deliver their opinions freely and openly. They
do not fear all Europe. Compare it to this. You
cannot detect the guilty. The publication from time
to time is merely optional in them. They may pro
long the period, or suppress it altogether, under pre-

PATRICK HENRY. 139

tence of its being necessary to be kept secret. The
yeas and nays will avail nothing. Is the publication
daily ? It may be a year, or once in a century. I know
this would be an unfair construction in the common
concerns of life. But it would satisfy the words of the
Constitution. It would be some security were it once
a year, or even once in two years. When the new elec
tion comes on, unless you detect them, what becomes of
your responsibility? Will they discover their guilt
when they wish to be re-elected? This would sup
pose them to be, not only bad men, but foolish men,
in pursuit of responsibility. Have you a right to
scrutinize into the conduct of your representatives?
Can any man, who conceives himself injured, go and
demand a sight of their journals? But it will be told
that I am suspicious. I am answered, to every ques
tion, that they will be good men. In England, they
see daily what is doing in Parliament. They will hear
from their Parliament in one thirty-ninth part of the
time that we shall hear from Congress in this scat
tered country. Let it be proposed, in England, to lay
a poll tax, or enter into any measure, that will injure
one part and produce emoluments to another, intelli
gence will fly quickly as the rays of light to the people.
They will instruct their representatives to oppose it,
and will petition against it, and get it prevented or
redressed instantly. Impeachment follows quickly a
violation of duty. Will it be so here ? You must de
tect the offence, and punish the defaulter. How will
this be done when you know not the offender, even
though he had a previous design to commit the mis
demeanor? Your Parliament will consist of sixty-

140 PATRICK HENRY.

five. Your share will be ten out of the sixty-five.
Will they not take shelter, by saying they were in the
minority — that the men from New Hampshire and
Kentucky out- voted them? Thus will responsibility,
that great pillar of a free government, be taken away.

The honorable gentleman wished to try the experi
ment. Loving his country as he does, he would not
surely wish to trust his happiness to an experiment,
from which much harm, but no good, may result.

I will speak another time, and will not fatigue the
committee now. I think the friends of the opposition
ought to make a pause here; for I can see no safety
to my country, if you give up this power.

THE BILL OF RIGHTS.

DELIVERED IN THE VIRGINIA CONVENTION OTST THE
ADOPTION OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITU
TION, JUNE 14, 1788.

Mr. Chairman :

THE necessity of a Bill of Rights appears to me to
be greater in this government than ever it was in any
government before. I have observed already that the
sense of the European nations, and particularly Great
Britain, is against the construction of rights being re
tained which are not expressly relinquished. I repeat
that all nations have adopted this construction— that
all rights not expressly and unequivocally reserved to
the people are impliedly and incidentally relinquished
to rulers, as necessarily inseparable from the delegat-
;ed powers. It is so in Great Britain; for every pos-

PATRICK HENRY. 14!

sible right, which is not reserved to the people by some
express provision or compact, is within the king's pre
rogative. It is so in that country which is said to be in
such full possession of freedom. It is so in Spain, Ger
many, and other parts of the world. Let us consider
the sentiments which have been entertained by the
people of America on this subject. At the Revolu
tion, it must be admitted that it was their sense to set
down those great rights which ought, in all countries,
to be held inviolable and sacred. Virginia did so, we
all remember. She made a compact to reserve, ex
pressly, certain rights.

When fortified with full, adequate, and abundant
representation, was she satisfied with that represen
tation? No. She most cautiously and guardedly re
served and secured those invaluable, inestimable
rights and privileges which no people inspired with
the least glow of patriotic liberty ever did, or ever can,
abandon. She is called upon now to abandon them and
dissolve that compact which secured them to her. She,
is called upon to accede to another compact which most
infallibly supersedes and annihilates her present one.
Will she do it? This is the question. If you intend
to reserve your inalienable rights, you must have the
most express stipulation; for if implication be allow
ed, you are ousted of those rights. If the people do
not think it necessary to reserve them, they will be
supposed to be given up. How were the congression
al rights defined when the people of America united
by a confederacy to defend their liberties and rights
against the tyrannical attempts of Great Britain? The
States were not then contented with implied reserva-

142 PATRICK HENRY.

tion. No, Mr. Chairman. It was expressly declared
in our Confederation that every right was retained
by the States, respectively, which was not given up
to the government of the United States. But there
is no such thing here. You, therefore, by a natural
and unavoidable implication, give up your rights to
the general government.

Your own example furnishes an argument against
it. If you give up these powers, without a Bill of
Rights, you will exhibit the most absurd thing to man
kind that ever the world saw — a government that has
abandoned all its powers — the powers of direct taxa
tion, the sword, and the purse. You have disposed of
them to Congress, without a Bill of Rights — without
check, limitation, or control. And still you have
checks and guards; still you keep barriers — point
ed where? Pointed against your weakened, pros
trated, enervated State government ! You have a Bill
of Rights to defend you against the State government,
which is bereaved of all power, and yet you have none
against Congress, though in full and exclusive posses
sion of all power! You arm yourselves against the
weak and defenceless, and expose yourselves naked
to the armed and powerful. Is not this conduct of un
exampled absurdity? What barriers have you to op
pose to this most strong, energetic government. To
that government who have nothing to oppose. All
your defence is given up. This is a real,
actual defect. It must strike the mind of every gentle
man. When our government was first instituted in
Virginia, we declared the common law of England to
be in force.

PATRICK HENRY. 143

That system of law which has been admired and has
protected us and our ancestors is excluded by that sys
tem. Added to this, we adopted a Bill of Rights. By
this Constitution some of the best barriers of human
rights are thrown away. Is there not an additional
reason to have a Bill of Rights ? By the ancient com
mon law the trial of all facts is decided by a jury of
impartial men from the immediate vicinage. This
paper speaks of different juries from the common law
in criminal cases; and in civil controversies excludes
trial by jury altogether. There is, therefore, more oc
casion for the supplementary check of a Bill of Rights
now than then. Congress, from their general powers,
may fully go into the business of human legislation.
They may be legislative in criminal cases, from trea
son to the lowest offence — petty larceny. They may,
define crimes and prescribe punishments. In the defi
nition of crimes, I trust they will be directed by what
wise representatives ought to be governed by. But
when we come to punishments, no latitude ought to be
left, nor dependence put on the virtue of representa
tives. What says our Bill of Rights ? — " that exces
sive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines
imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflict
ed." Are you not, therefore, now calling on those gen
tlemen who are to compose Congress to prescribe trials
and define punishments without this control? Will
they find sentiments there similar to this Bill of
Rights? You let them loose; you do more — you de
part from the genius of your country. That paper
tells you that the trial of crimes shall be by jury, and
held in the State where the crime shall have been

144 PATRICK HENRY.

committed. Under this extensive provision, they may
proceed in a manner extremely dangerous to liberty;
a person accused may be carried from one extremity
of the State to another, and may be tried not by an
impartial jury of the vicinage, acquainted with his
character and the circumstances of the fact, but by a
jury unacquainted with both, and who may be biased
against him. Is not this sufficient to alarm men?
How different is this from the immemorial practice
of your British ancestors and your own ! I need not
tell you that, by the common law, a number of hun-
dreders were required on a jury, and that afterward
it was sufficient if the jurors came from the same
county. With less than this the people of England
have never been satisfied. That paper ought to have
declared the common law in force.

In this business of legislation, your members of
Congress will lose the restrictions of not imposing
excessive fines, demanding excessive bail, and inflict
ing cruel and unusual punishments. These are pro
hibited by your Declaration of Rights. What has dis
tinguished our ancestors? That they would not ad
mit of tortures, or cruel or barbarous punishment.
But Congress may introduce the practice of the civil
law, in preference to that of the common law. They
may introduce the practice of France, Spain and Ger
many — of torturing to extort a confession of crime.
They will say that they might as well draw examples
from those countries as from Great Britain, and they
will tell you that there is such a necessity of strength
ening the arm of government that they must have a
criminal equity, and extort confession by torture, in

PATRICK HENRY. 145

order to punish with still more relentless severity.
We are then lost and undone. And can any man
think it troublesome, when we can, by a small inter
ference, prevent our rights from being lost? If you
will, like the Virginia government, give them knowl
edge of the extent of the rights retained by the peo
ple, and the powers of themselves, they will, if they
be honest men, thank you for it. Will they not wish
to go on sure grounds? But if you leave them other
wise, they will not know how to proceed; and, being
in a state of uncertainty, they will assume rather than
give up powers of implication.

A Bill of Rights may be summed up in a few words.
What do they tell us ? That our rights are reserved.
Why not say so? Is it because it will consume too
much papier? Gentlemen's reasoning against a Bill
of Rights does not satisfy me. Without saying which
has the right side, it remains doubtful. A Bill of
Rights is a favorite thing with the Virginians and the
people of the other States likewise. It may be
their prejudice, but the government ought to suit their
geniuses ; otherwise its operation will be unhappy. A
Bill of Rights, even if its necessity be doubtful, will
exclude the possibility of dispute ; and, with great sub
mission, I think the best way is to have no dispute.
In the present Constitution they are restrained from
issuing general warrants to search suspected places,
or seize persons not named, without evidence of the
commission of a fact, etc. There was certainly some
celestial influence governing those who deliberated
on that Constitution; for they have, with the most
cautious and enlightened circumspection, guarded

146 PATRICK HENRY.

those indefeasible rights which ought ever to be held
sacred! The officers of Congress may come upon
you now, fortified with all the terrors of paramount
federal authority. Excisemen may come in multi
tudes; for the limitation of their numbers no man
knows. They may, unless the general government
be restrained by a Bill of Rights, or some similar re
striction, go into your cellars and rooms, and search,
ransack, and measure, everything you eat, drink, and
wear. They ought to be restrained within proper
bounds. With respect to the freedom of the press,
I need say nothing; for it is hoped that the gentle
men who shall compose Congress will take care to
infringe as little as possible the rights of human na
ture. This will result from their integrity. They
should, from prudence, abstain from violating the
rights of their constituents. They are not, however,
expressly restrained. But whether they will inter
meddle with that palladium of our liberties or not, I
leave you to determine.

LIBERTY OR EMPIRE?

PELIVERED IN THE VIRGINIA CONVENTION, JUNE 5,

1788.

WHAT, sir, is the genius of democracy? Let me
read that clause of the Bill of Rights of Virginia
which relates to this :

" CLAUSE III. — That government is, or ought to
be, instituted for the common benefit, protection and

PATRICK HENRY. 147

security of the people, nation, or community. Of
all the various modes and forms of government, that
is best which is capable of producing the greatest de
gree of happiness and safety, and is most effectually
secured against the danger of maladministration; and
that whenever any government shall be found inade
quate or contrary to those purposes, a majority of the
community hath an indubitable, unalienable, and in
defeasible right to reform, alter, or abolish it, in such
manner as shall be judged most conducive to the pub
lic weal."

This, sir, is the language of democracy — that a ma-
jority of the community have a right to alter gov
ernment when found to be oppressive. But how
different is the genius of your new Constitution from
this! How different from the sentiments of free
men, that a contemptible minority can prevent the
good of the majority ! If, then, gentlemen standing
on this ground are come to that point, that they are
willing to bind themselves and their posterity to be
oppressed, I am amazed and inexpressibly astonished.
If this be the opinion of the majority, I must submit ;
but to me, sir, it appears perilous and destructive. I
cannot help thinking so. Perhaps it may be the re
sult of my age. These may be feelings natural to a
man of my years, when the American spirit has left
him, and his mental powers, like the members of the
body, are decayed. If, sir, amendments are left to
the twentieth, or tenth part of the people of America,
your liberty is gone forever. We have heard that
there is a great deal of bribery practiced in the House

148 PATRICK HENRY.

of Commons in England, and that many of the mem
bers raise themselves to preferments by selling the
rights of the whole of the people. But, sir, the tenth
part of that body cannot continue oppressions on the
rest of the people. English liberty is, in this case, on a
firmer foundation than American liberty. It will be
easily contrived to procure the opposition of one-
tenth of the people to any alteration, however judi
cious. The honorable gentleman who presides told
us to prevent abuses in our government, we will
assemble in convention, recall our delegated powers,,
and punish our servants for abusing the trust im
posed in them. Oh, sir! we should have fine times,
indeed, if, to punish tyrants, it were only sufficient
to assemble the people! Your arms, wherewith you
could defend yourselves, are gone; and you have no
longer an aristocratical, no longer a democratical
spirit. Did you ever read of any revolution in a na
tion, brought about by the punishment of those in
power, inflicted by those who had no power at all?
You read of a riot act in a country which is called one
of the freest in the world, where a few neighbors can
not assemble without the risk of being shot by a
hired soldiery, the engines of despotism. We may
see such an act in America.

A standing army we shall have, also, to execute
the execrable commands of tyranny ; and how are you
to punish them ? Will you order them to be punished ?
Who shall obey these orders ? Will your mace-
bearer be a match for a disciplined regiment. In
what situation are we to be ? The clause before your
gives a power of direct taxation, unbounded and un-

PATRICK HENRY. 149

limited — an exclusive power of legislation, in all cases
whatsoever, for ten miles square, and over all places
purchased for the erection of forts, magazines, arse
nals, dockyards, etc. What resistance could be made ?
The attempt would be madness. You will find all
the strength of this country in the hands of your ene
mies; their garrisons \vill naturally be the strongest
places in the country. Your militia is given up to
Congress, also, in another part of this plan ; they will
therefore act as they think proper: all power will be
in their own possession. You cannot force them to re
ceive their punishment : of what service would mili
tia be to you, when, most probably, you will not have
-a single musket in the State ? For, as arms are to be
provided by Congress, they may or may not furnish
them.

Let me here call your attention to that part which
gives the Congress the power " to provide for organ
izing, arming and disciplining the militia, and for gov
erning such part of them as may be employed in the
service of the United States; reserving to the States,
respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the
authority of training the militia according to the dis
cipline prescribed by Congress." By this, sir, you see
that their control over our last and best defence is un
limited. If they neglect or refuse to discipline or arm
our militia, they will be useless; the States can do
neither, this power being exclusively given to Con
gress. The power of appointing officers over men not
disciplined or armed is ridiculous; so that this pre
tended little remains of power left to the States may,
at the pleasure of Congress, be rendered nugatory.

ISO PATRICK HENRY.

Our situation will be deplorable indeed: nor can we
ever expect to get this government amended, since I
have already shown that a very small minority may
prevent it, and that a small minority interest
ed in the continuance of the oppression. Will
the oppressor let go the oppressed? Was there
ever an instance? Can the annals of man
kind exhibit one single example where rulers over
charged with power willingly let go the oppressed,
though solicited and requested most earnestly? The
application for amendments will therefore be fruit
less. Sometimes the oppressed have got loose by one
of those bloody struggles that desolate a country;
but a willing relinquishment of power is one of those
things which human nature never was, nor ever will
be capable of.

The honorable gentleman's observations respecting
the people's right of being the agents in the formation
of this government are not accurate, in my humble
conception. The distinction between a national gov
ernment and a confederacy is not sufficiently dis
cerned. Had the delegates who were sent to Phila
delphia a power to propose a consolidated government
instead of a confederacy ? W7ere they not deputed by
States, and not by the people? The assent of the peo
ple, in their collective capacity, is not necessary to the
formation of a federal government. The people have
no right to enter into leagues, alliances, or confedera
tions ; they are not the proper agents for this purpose.
States and foreign powers are the only proper agents
for this kind of government. Show me an instance
where the people have exercised this business. Has

PATRICK HENRY.

it not always gone through the Legislatures? I refer
you to the treaties with France, Holland, and other
nations. How were they made? Were they not
made by the States? Are the people, therefore, in
their aggregate capacity, the proper persons to form
a confederacy? This, therefore, ought to depend
on the consent of the Legislatures, the people having
sent delegates to make any proposition for changing
the government. Yet I must say, at the same time,
that it was made on grounds the most pure ; and, per
haps, I might have been brought to consent to it as
far as to the change of government. But there is
one thing in it which I never would acquiesce in.
I mean the changing it into a consolidated govern
ment, which is so abhorrent- to my mind.

The honorable gentleman then went on to the
figure we make with foreign nations; the contempti
ble one we make in France and Holland, which, ac
cording to the substance of the notes, he attributes
to the present feeble government. An opinion
has gone forth, we find, that we are contempti
ble people ; the time has been when we were thought
otherwise. Under the same despised government we
commanded the respect of all Europe; wherefore
are we now reckoned otherwise? The American
spirit has fled from hence; it has gone to regions
where it has never been expected; it has gone
to the people of France in search of a splendid gov
ernment, a strong, energetic government. Shall we
imitate the example of those nations who have gone
from a simple to a splendid government? Are those
nations more worthy of our imitation? What can

152 PATRICK HENRY.

make an adequate satisfaction to them for the loss
they have suffered in attaining such a government —
for the loss of their liberty? If we admit this con
solidated government, it will be because we like a
great, splendid one. Some way or other we must be
a great and mighty empire; we must have an army,
and a navy, and a number of things. When the
American spirit was in its youth, the language of
America was different; liberty, sir, was then the pri
mary object. We are descended from a people whose
government was founded on liberty; our glorious
forefathers of Great Britain made liberty the foun
dation of everything. That country is become a
great, mighty, and splendid nation; not because their
government is strong and energetic, but, sir, because
liberty is its direct end and foundation. We drew
the spirit of liberty from our British ancestors; by
that spirit we have triumphed over every difficulty.
But now, sir, the American spirit, assisted by the ropes
and chains of consolidation, is about to convert this
country into a powerful and mighty empire. If you
make the citizens of this country agree to become the
subjects of one great consolidated empire of America,
your government will not have sufficient energy to
keep them together. Such a government is incom
patible with the genius of republicanism. There will ,
be no checks, no real balances in this government.
What can avail your specious, imaginary balances,
your rope-dancing, chain-rattling, ridiculous ideal
checks and contrivances ? But, sir, " we are not
feared by foreigners; we do not make nations trem
ble." Would this constitute happiness or secure lib-

PATRICK HENRY. 153

erty? I trust, sir, our political hemisphere will ever
direct their operations to the security of those objects.
Consider our situation, sir; go to the poor man and
ask him what he does. He will inform you that he
enjoys the fruits of his labor, under his own fig tree,
with his wife and children around him, in peace and
security. Go to every other member of society; you
will find the same tranquil ease and content; you will
find no alarms or disturbances. Why, then, tell us
of danger, to terrify us into an adoption of this new
form of government? And yet who knows the dan
gers that this new system may produce ? They are out
of the sight of the common people ; they cannot fore
see latent consequences. I dread the operation of it
on the middling and lower classes of people; it is
for them I fear the adoption of this system. I fear
I tire the patience of the committee, but I beg to be
indulged with a few more observations. When I thus
confess myself an advocate for the liberty of the peo
ple, I shall be told I am a designing man, that I am
to be a great man, that I am to be a demagogue ; and
many similar illiberal insinuations will be thrown out :
but, sir, conscious rectitude outweighs those things
with me. I see great jeopardy in this new government.
1 see none from our present one. I hope some gen
tleman or other will bring forth, in full array, those
dangers, if there be any, that we may see and touch
them. I have said that I thought this a consolidated
government; I will now prove it. Will the great
rights of the people be secured by this government?
Suppose it should prove oppressive, how can it be
altered? Our Bill of Rights declares that "a ma-

154 PATRICK HENRY.

jority of the community hath an indubitable, un-
alienable and indefeazible right to reform, alter,
or abolish it, in such manner as shall be judged most
conducive to the public weal."

I have just proved that one-tenth, or less, of the
people of America — a — most despicable minority —
may prevent this reform or alteration. Suppose the
people of Virginia should wish to alter their govern
ment; can a majority of them do it? No; because
they are connected with other men, or, in other words,
consolidated with other States. When the people of
Virginia, at a future day, shall wish to alter their gov
ernment, though they should be unanimous in this
desire, yet they may be prevented therefrom by a
despicable minority at the extremity of the United
States. The founders of your own Constitution made
your government changeable ; but the power of chang
ing it is gone from you. Whither is it gone? It is
placed in the same hands that hold the rights of twelve
other States, and those who hold those rights have
right and power to keep them. It is not the particu
lar government of Virginia; one of the leading fea
tures of that government is that a majority can alter
it when necessary for the public good. This gov
ernment is not a Virginian, but an American govern
ment. Is it not, therefore, a consolidated govern
ment? The sixth clause of your Bill of Rights tells
you " that elections of members to serve as represen
tatives of the people in assembly ought to be free,
and that all men having sufficient evidence of perma
nent common interest with and attachment to the com
munity, have the right of suffrage, and cannot be

PATRICK HENRY. 1 55

taxed, or deprived of their property for public uses,
without their own consent, or that of their represen-'
tatives so elected, nor bound by any law to which
they have not in like manner assented for the public
good." But what does this Constitution say? The
clause under consideration gives an unlimited and un
bounded power of taxation. Suppose every dele
gate from Virginia opposes a law laying a tax; what
will it avail? They are oppressed by a majority;
eleven members can destroy their efforts : those fee
ble ten cannot prevent the passage of the most oppres
sive tax law ; so that, in direct opposition to the spirit
and express language of your Declaration of Rights,
you are taxed, not by your own consent, but by people
who have no connection with you.

The next clause of the Bill of Rights tells you
" that all power of suspending law, or the execution
of laws, by any authority, without the consent of the
representatives of the people, is injurious to their
rights, and ought not to be exercised." This tells
us that there can be no suspension of government or
laws without our own consent; yet this Constitution
can counteract and suspend any of our laws that con
travene its oppressive operation; for they have the
power of direct taxation, which suspends our Bill of
Rights; and it is expressly provided that they can
make all laws necessary for carrying their powers
into execution; and it is declared paramount to the
laws and constitutions of the States. Consider how
the only remaining defence we have left is destroyed
in this manner. Besides the expenses of maintain
ing the Senate and other House in as much splendor

156 PATRICK HENRY.

as they please, there is to be a great and mighty Presi
dent, with very extensive powers — the powers of a
king. He is to be supported in extravagant magnifi
cence ; so that the whole of our property may be taken
by this American Government, by laying what taxes
they please, giving themselves what salaries they
please, and suspending our laws at their pleasure. I
might be thought too inquisitive, but I believe I should
take up very little of your time in enumerating the lit
tle power that is left to the government of Virginia, for
this power is reduced to little or nothing; their gar
risons, magazines, arsenals, and forts, which will be
situated in the strongest places within the States;
their ten-mile square, with all the fine ornaments of
human life, added to their powers, and taken from the
States, will reduce the power of the latter to nothing.
The voice of tradition, I trust, will inform posterity
of our struggles for freedom. If our descendants be
worthy the name of Americans, they will preserve,
and hand down to their 'last posterity, the transactions
of the present times; and, though I confess my ex
clamations are not worthy the hearing, they will see
that I have done my utmost to preserve their liberty ;
for I never will give up the power of direct taxation
but for a scourge. I am willing to give it condition
ally; that is, after non-compliance with requisitions.
I will do more, sir, and what I hope will convince the
most sceptical man that I am a lover of the American
Union; that, in case Virginia shall not make punctual
payment, the control of our custom houses, and the
whole regulation of trade, shall be given to Congress,
and that Virginia shal] depend on Congress even for

PATRICK HENRY. 157

passports, till Virginia shall have paid the last farth
ing, and furnished the last soldier. Nay, sir, there
is another alternative to which I would consent; even
that they should strike us out of the Union and take
away from us all federal privileges, till we comply
with federal requisitions: but let it depend upon our
own pleasure to pay our money in the most easy man
ner for our people. Were all the States, more terri
ble than the mother country, to join against us, I
hope Virginia could defend herself; but, sir, the
dissolution of the Union is most abhorrent to my
mind. The first thing I have at heart is American
liberty; the second thing is American union; and I
hope the people of Virginia will endeavor to preserve
that union. The increasing population of the South
ern States is far greater than that of New England;
consequently, in a short time, they will be far more
numerous than the people of that country. Consider
this, and you will find this State more particularly in
terested to support American liberty and not bind
our posterity by an improvident relinquishment of
our rights. I would give the best security for a punc
tual compliance with requisitions; but I beseech gen
tlemen, at all hazards, not to give up this unlimited
power of taxation. The honorable gentleman has
told us that these powers, given to Congress, are ac
companied by a judiciary which will correct all. On
examination, you will find this very judiciary op
pressively constructed, your jury trial destroyed, and
the judges dependent on Congress. . .

This Constitution is said to have beautiful features;
but when I come to examine these features, sir, they

158 PATRICK HENRY.

appear to me horribly frightful. Among other de
formities, it has an awful squinting ; it squints toward
monarchy; and does not this raise indignation in the
breast of every true American? Your President
may easily become king. Your Senate is so imper
fectly constructed that your dearest rights may be
sacrificed by what may be a small minority; and a
very small minority may continue forever unchange
ably this government, although horribly defective.
Where are your checks in this government? Your
strongholds will be in the hands of your enemies. It
is on a supposition that your American governors
shall be honest, that all the good qualities of this
government are founded ; but its defective and imper
fect construction puts it in their power to perpetrate
the worst of mischiefs, should they be bad men; and,
sir, would not all the world, from the Eastern to the
Western Hemisphere, blame our distracted folly in
resting our rights upon the contingency of our rulers
being good or bad? Show me that age and country
where the rights and liberties of the people were
placed on the sole chance of their rulers being good
men, without a consequent loss of liberty! I say
that the loss of that dearest privilege has ever fol
lowed, with absolute certainty, every such mad at
tempt.

If your American chief be a man of ambition and
abilities, how easy is it for him to render himself ab
solute ! The army is in his hands, and if he be a man
of address, it will be attached to him, and it will be
the subject of long meditation with him to seize the
first auspicious moment to accomplish his design ; and,

PATRICK HENRY. 1 59

sir, will the American spirit solely relieve you when
this happens? I would rather infinitely — and I am
sure most of this Convention are of the same opinion
— have a king, lords, and commons, than a govern
ment so replete with such insupportable evils. If we
make a king, we may prescribe the rules by which he
shall rule his people, and interpose such checks as
shall prevent him from infringing them; but the
President, in the field, at the head of his army, can
prescribe the terms on which he shall reign master,
so far that it will puzzle any American ever to get
his neck from under the galling yoke. I cannot with
patience think of this idea. If ever he violate the
laws, one of two things will happen; he will come at
the head of the army to carry everything before him ;
or he will give bail, or do what Mr. Chief- Justice will
order him. If he be guilty, will not the recollection
of his crimes teach him to make one bold push for the
American throne? Will not the immense difference
between being master of everything and being ig-
nominiously tried and punished powerfully excite him
to make this bold push ? But, sir, where is the existing
force to punish him? Can he not, at the head of his
army beat down every opposition? Away with your
President ! we shall have a king : the army will salute
him monarch ; your militia will leave you, and assist in
making him king, and fight against you : and what
have you to oppose this force ? What will then be
come of you and your rights? Will not absolute
despotism ensue?

l6o HANCOCK.

Hancock, John, a distinguished American patriot and
orator, born in that portion of Braintree, Mass., now known
as Quincy, January 12, 1737 ; died there, Octobers, 1793.
He inherited a large fortune and rose to prominence as a
merchant in Boston, becoming a member of the colonial legis
lature in 1766. The skirmish between the rabble and tb<*
soldiers, since known as " The Boston Massacre," occurred
in 1770, and Hancock's oration at the funeral of the vic
tims was so strongly condemned that his arrest was sought
by the authorities. Like Samuel Adams he was exempted
from the free pardon offered to rebels in 1775. In that
same year he was chosen President of the Continental Con
gress, and he was the first one to sign the Declaration of
Independence. He was the first governor oe the State of
Massachusetts, aud save for a two-years interval, was re-elec
ted annually until his death.

ORATION ON THE BOSTON MASSACRE.
DELIVERED MARCH 5, 1 774-

MEN, BRETHREN, FATHERS, AND FELLOW COUN
TRYMEN, — The attractive gravity, the venerable ap
pearance of this crowded audience ; the dignity which
I behold in the countenances of so many in this great
assembly ; the solemnity of the occasion upon which we
have met together joined to a consideration of the part
I fcm to take in the important business of this day, fill
me with an awe hitherto unknown, and heighten the
sense which I have ever had, of my unworthiness to fill
this sacred desk. But, allured by the call of some of
my respected fellow citizens, with whose request it
is always my greatest pleasure to comply, I almost

HANCOCK. l6l

forgot my want of ability to perform what they re
quired.

In this situation I find my only support in assuring"
myself that a generous people will not severely cen
sure what they know was well intended, though its
want of merit should prevent their being able to ap
plaud it. And I pray that my sincere attachment to
the interest of my country, and hearty detestation of
every design formed against her liberties, may be ad
mitted as some apology for my appearance in this
place.

I have always, from my earliest youth, rejoiced in
the felicity of my fellow men; and have ever con
sidered it as the indispensable duty of every member
of society to promote, as far as in him lies, the pros
perity of every individual, but more especially of the
community to which he belongs ; and also, as a faith
ful subject of the state, to use his utmost endeavors
to detect, and having detected, strenuously to oppose
every traitorous plot which its enemies may devise
for its destruction. Security to the persons and prop
erties of the governed is so obviously the design and
end of civil government that to attempt a logical
proof of it would be like burning tapers at noonday
to assist the sun in enlightening the world; and it
cannot be either virtuous or honorable to attempt to
support a government of which this is not the great
and principal basis ; and it is to the last degree vicious
and infamous to attempt to support a government
which manifestly tends to render the persons and
properties of the governed insecure.

Some boast of being friends to government; I am

162 HANCOCK.

a friend to righteous government, to a government
founded upon the principles of reason and justice;
but I glory in publicly avowing my eternal enmity
to tyranny. Is the present system, which the British
administration have adopted for the government of
the colonies, a righteous government — or is it ty
ranny? Here suffer me to ask (and would to heaven
there could be an answer), what tenderness, what
regard, respect or consideration has Great Britain
shown, in their late transactions, for the security of
the persons or properties of the inhabitants of the colo
nies? Or rather what have they omitted doing to
destroy that security.

They have declared that they have ever had, and
of right ought ever to have, full power to make laws
of sufficient validity to bind the colonies in all cases
whatever. They have exercised this pretended right
by imposing a tax upon us without our consent; and
lest we should show some reluctance *at parting with
our property her fleets and armies are sent to enforce
their mad pretensions.

The town of Boston, ever faithful to the British
crown, has been invested by a British fleet, the troops
of George III. have crossed the wide Atlantic, not to
engage an enemy, but to assist a band of traitors in
trampling on the rights and liberties of his most loyal
subjects in America — those rights and liberties which,
as a father, he ought ever to regard, and as a king
he is bound in honor to defend from violation, even
at the risk of his own life.

Let not the history of the illustrious house of Bruns
wick inform posterity that a king descended from that

HANCOCK. 163

glorious monarch, George II., once sent his British
subjects to conquer and enslave his subjects in Ameri
ca. But be perpetual infamy entailed upon that vil
lain who dared to advise his master to such execrable
measures ; for it was easy to foresee the consequences
which so naturally followed upon sending troops into
America to enforce obedience to acts of the British
Parliament which neither God nor man ever empow
ered them to make. It was reasonable to expect that
troops who knew the errand they were sent upon
would treat the people whom they were to subjugate
with a cruelty and haughtiness which too often buries
the honorable character of a soldier in the disgraceful
name of an unfeeling ruffian. The troops, upon their
first arrival, took possession of our senate house and
pointed their cannon against the judgment hall, and
even continued them iheie whilst the supreme court
of judicature for this province was actually sitting
to decide upon the lives and fortunes of the king's
subjects. Our streets nightly resounded with the
noise of riot and debauchery; our peaceful citizens
were hourly exposed to shameful insults, and often
felt the effects of their violence and outrage.

But this was not all: as though they thought it
not enough to violate our civil rights they endeavored
to deprive us of the enjoyment of our religious privi
leges; to vitiate our morals, and thereby render us
deserving of destruction. Hence the rude din of
arms which broke in upon your solemn devotions in
your temples on that day hallowed by heaven and
set apart by God himself for his peculiar worship.

Hence impious oaths and blasphemies so often tor-
6-1

164 HANCOCK.

/turecl your unaccustomed ear. Hence all the arts
which idleness and luxury could invent were used
to betray our youth of one sex into extravagance and
effeminacy, and of the other, to infamy and ruin ; and
did they not succeed but too well? Did not a rev
erence for religion sensibly decay? Did not our in
fants almost learn to lisp out curses before they knew
their horrid import? Did not our youth forget they
were Americans, and regardless of the admonitions
of the wise and aged servilely copy -from their ty
rants those vices which finally must overthrow the
empire of Great Britain? And must I be compelled
to acknowledge that even the noblest, fairest part of
the lower creation did not entirely escape the cursed
snare? When virtue has once erected her throne
within the female breast it is upon so solid a basis
that nothing is able to expel the heavenly inhabitant.
But have there not been some, few indeed, I hope,
whose youth and inexperience have rendered them a
prey to wretches whom, upon the least reflection, they
would have despised and hated as foes to God and
their country? I fear there have been some such
unhappy instances, or why have I seen an honest
father clothed with shame ; or why a virtuous mother
drowned in tears?

But I forbear, and come reluctantly to the transac
tions of that dismal night when in such quick succes
sion we felt the extremes of grief, astonishment and
rage ; when heaven in anger, for a dreadful moment,
suffered hell to take the reins; when Satan with his
•chosen band opened the sluices of New England's

HANCOCK. 165

blood, and sacrilegiously polluted our land with the
dead bodies of her guiltless sons !

Let this sad tale of death never be told without a
tear : let not the heaving bosom cease to burn with
a manly indignation at the barbarous story through
the long tracts of future time : let every parent tell
the shameful story to his listening children until
tears of pity glisten in their eyes and boiling passions
shake their tender frames ; and whilst the anniversary
of that ill-fated night is kept a jubilee in the grim
court of pandemonium, let all America join in one
common prayer to heaven that the inhuman, unpro
voked murders of the 5th of March, 1770, planned by
Hillsborough and a knot of treacherous knaves in
Boston, and executed by the cruel hand of Preston
and his sanguinary coadjutors, may ever stand on his
tory without a parallel.

But what, my countrymen, withheld the ready arm
of vengeance from executing instant justice on the vile
assassins? Perhaps you feared promiscuous carnage
might ensue, and that the innocent might share the
fate of those who had performed the infernal deed.
But were not all guilty? Were you not too tender of
the lives of those who came to fix a yoke on your
necks ? But I must not too severely blame a fault which
great souls only can commit. May that magnificence of
spirit which scorns the low pursuits of malice, may
that generous compassion which often preserves from
ruin even a guilty villain, forever actuate the noble
bosoms of Americans !

But let not the miscreant host vainly imagine that
we feared their arms. No ; them we despised ; we dread

1 66 HANCOCK.

nothing but slavery. Death is the creature of a pol
troon's brains; 'tis immortality to sacrifice ourselves
for the salvation of our country. We fear not death.
That gloomy night the pale-faced moon, and the
affrighted stars that hurried through the sky, can
witness that we fear not death. Our hearts which,
at the recollection, glow with rage that four revolv
ing years have scarcely taught us to restrain, can
witness that we fear not death; and happy it is for
those who dared to insult us that their naked bones
are not now piled up an everlasting monument of
Massachusetts' bravery.

But they retired, they fled, and in that flight they
found their only safety. We then expected that the
hand of public justice would soon inflict that punish
ment upon the murderers which by the laws of God
and man they had incurred. But let the unbiased pen
of a Robertson, or perhaps some equally famed Ameri
can, conduct this trial before the great tribunal of
succeeding generations. And though the murderers
may escape the just resentment of an enraged peo
ple; though drowsy justice, intoxicated by the poi
sonous draught prepared for her cup, still nods upon
her rotten seat, yet be assured such complicated
crimes will meet their due reward. Tell me, ye
bloody butchers ! ye villains high and low ! ye wretches
who contrived as well as you who executed the in
human deed! do you not feel the goads and stings
of conscious guilt pierce through your savage bosoms ?
Though some of you may think yourselves exalted
to a height that bids defiance to human justice; and
others shroud yourselves beneath the mask of hypoc-

HANCOCK. 167

risy, and build your hopes of safety on the low arts
of cunning, chicanery, and falsehood; yet do you not
sometimes feel the gnawings of that worm which
never dies ? Do not the injured shades of Maverick,
Gray, Caldwell, Attucks, and Carr, attend you in your
solitary walks; arrest you even in the midst of your
debaucheries, and fill even your dreams with terror?
But if the unappeased manes of the dead should not
disturb their murderers, yet surely even your obdur
ate hearts must shrink, and your guilty blood must
chill within your rigid veins, when you behold the
miserable Monk, the wretched victim of your savage
cruelty. Observe his tottering knees, which scarce
sustain his wasted body; look on his haggard eyes;
mark well the death-like paleness on his fallen cheek,
and tell me, does not the sight plant daggers in your
souls? Unhappy Monk! cut off in the gay morn of
manhood, from all the joys which sweeten life,
doomed to drag on a pitiful existence without even
a hope to taste the pleasures of returning health !
Yet Monk, thou livest not in vain ; thou livest a warn
ing to thy country, which sympathizes with thee in
thy sufferings; thou livest an affecting, an alarming
instance of the unbounded violence which lust of
power, assisted by a standing army, can lead a traitor
to commit.

For us he bled and now languishes. The wounds
by which he is tortured to a lingering death were
aimed at our country ! Surely the meek-eyed charity
can never behold such sufferings with indifference.
Nor can her lenient hand forbear to pour oil and wine

1 68 HANCOCK.

into these wounds, and to assuage, at least, what it
cannot heal.

Patriotism is ever united with humanity and com
passion. This noble affection which impels us to
sacrifice everything dear, even life itself, to our coun
try, involves in it a common sympathy and tenderness
for every citizen, and must ever have a particular
feeling for one who suffers in a public cause. Thor
oughly persuaded of this, I need not add a word to en
gage your compassion and bounty towards a fellow
citizen who, with long protracted anguish, falls a vic
tim to the relentless rage of our common enemies.

Ye dark designing knaves, ye murderers, parri
cides! how dare you tread upon the earth which has
drank in the blood of slaughtered innocents, shed by
your wicked hands? How dare you breathe that air
which wafted to the ear of heaven the groans of those
who fell a sacrifice to your accursed ambition? But
if the laboring earth doth not expand her jaws; if the
air you breathe is not commissioned to be the minis
ter of death; yet, hear it and tremble! The eye of
heaven penetrates the darkest chambers of the soul,
traces the leading clue through all the labyrinths which
your industrious folly has devised; and you, however
you may have screened yourselves from human eyes,
must be arraigned, must lift your hands, red with the
blood of those whose death you have procured, at
the tremendous bar of God !

But I gladly quit the gloomy theme of death and
leave you to improve the thought of that important
day when our naked souls must stand before that
Being from whom nothing can be hid. I would not

HANCOCK. 169.

dwell too long upon the horrid effects which have
already followed from quartering regular troops in
this town. Let our misfortunes teach posterity to
guard against such evils for the future. Standing
armies are sometimes (I would by no means say
generally, much less universally) composed of persons
who have rendered themselves unfit to live in civil
society; who have no other motives of conduct than
those which a desire of the present gratification of
their passions suggests; who have no property in any
country; men who have given up their own liberties
and envy those who enjoy liberty; who are equally
indifferent to the glory of a George or a Louis ; who,,
for the addition of one penny a day to their wages
would desert from the Christian cross and fight under
the crescent of the Turkish sultan.

From such men as these what has not a state to
fear? With such as these usurping Caesar passed
the Rubicon; with such as these he humbled mighty
Rome and forced the mistress of the world to own a
master in a traitor. These are the men whom scep
tred robbers now employ to frustrate the designs
of God and render vain the bounties which his gra
cious hand pours indiscriminately upon his creatures.
By these the miserable slaves in Turkey, Persia, and
many other extensive countries are rendered truly
wretched, though their air is salubrious and their
soil luxuriously fertile. By these, France and Spain,
though blessed by nature with all that administers to
the convenience of life, have been reduced to that con
temptible state in which they now appear; and by
these, Britain — but if I was possessed of the gift of

I/O HANCOCK.

prophecy I dare not, except by divine command, un
fold the leaves on which the destiny of that once
powerful kingdom is inscribed.

But since standing armies are so hurtful to a state,
perhaps my countrymen may demand some substi
tute, some other means of rendering us secure against
the incursions of a foreign enemy. But can you be
one moment at a loss? Will not a well-disciplined
militia afford you ample security against foreign foes ?
We want not courage; it is discipline alone in which
we are exceeded by the most formidable troops that
ever trod the earth. Surely our hearts flutter no
more at the sound of war than did those of the im
mortal band of Persia, the Macedonian phalanx, the
invincible Roman legions, the Turkish janissaries,
the gens d'armes of France, or the well-known grena
diers of Britain.

A well-disciplined militia is a safe, an honorable
guard to a community like this, whose inhabitants are
by nature brave, and are laudably tenacious of that
freedom in which they were born. From a well-
regulated militia we have nothing to fear; their in
terest is the same with that of the state. When a
country is invaded, the militia are ready to appear
in its defence ; they march into the field with that for
titude which a consciousness of the justice of their
cause inspires; they do not jeopard their lives for a
master who considers them only as the instruments
of his ambition, and whom they regard only as the
daily dispenser of the scanty pittance of bread and
water.

No, they fight for their houses, their lands, for their

HANCOCK. 171

wives, their children, for all who claim the tenderest
names, and are held dearest in their hearts ; they fight
pro aris et focis, for their liberty, and for themselves,
and for their God. And let it not offend if I say
that no militia ever appeared in more flourishing con
dition than that of this province now doth; and par
don me if I say, of this town in particular. I mean
not to boast; I would not excite envy, but manly
emulation.

We have all one common cause; let it, therefore,
be our only contest who shall most contribute to the
security of the liberties of America. And may the
same kind Providence which has watched over this
country from her infant state still enable us to de
feat our enemies.

I cannot here forbear noticing the signal manner
in which the designs of those who wish not well to
us have been discovered. The dark deeds of a treach
erous cabal have been brought to public view. You
now know the serpents who, whilst cherished in your
bosoms, were darting their envenomed stings into*
the vitals of the Constitution.

But the representatives of the people have fixed
a mark on these ungrateful monsters, which, though
it may not make them so secure as Cain of old, yet
renders them at least as infamous. Indeed, it would
be affrontive to the tutelar deity of this country even
to despair of saving it from all the snares which human
policy can lay.

True it is that the British ministry have annexed
a salary to the office of the governor of this province,
to be paid out of a revenue raised in America without

1 72 HANCOCK.

consent. They have attempted to render our
courts of justice the instruments of extending the
authority of acts of the British Parliament over this
colony, by making the judges dependent on the
British administration for their support. But this
people will never be enslaved with their eyes open.
The moment they knew that the governor was not
such a governor as the charter of the province points
out, he lost his power of hurting them. They were
alarmed; they suspected him, have guarded against
him, and he has found that a wise and a brave people,
when they know their danger, are fruitful in expe
dients to escape it.

The courts of judicature, also, so far lost their dig
nity, by being supposed to be under an undue influ
ence, that our representatives thought it absolutely
necessary to resolve that they were bound to declare
that they would not receive any other salary besides
that which the General Court should grant them; and
if they did not make this declaration, that it would
be the duty of the House to impeach them.

Great expectations were also formed from the art
ful scheme of allowing the East India Company to
export tea to America upon their own account. This
certainly, had it succeeded, would have effected the
purpose of the contrivers and gratified the most san
guine wishes of our adversaries. We soon should
have found our trade in the hands of foreigners, and
taxes imposed on everything which we consumed;
nor would it have been strange if in a few years a
company in London should have purchased an exclu
sive right of trading to America.

HANCOCK. 1/3

But their plot was soon discovered. The people
soon were aware of the poison which, with so much
craft and subtility, had been concealed. Loss and
disgrace ensued : and, perhaps this long-concerted mas
terpiece of policy may issue in the total disuse of tea
in this country, which will eventually be the saving
of the lives and the estates of thousands.

Yet while we rejoice that the adversary has not
hitherto prevailed against us, let us by no means put
off the harness. Restless malice and disappointed
ambition will still suggest new measures to our in
veterate enemies. Therefore, let us also be ready to
take the field whenever danger calls ; let us be united
and strengthen the hands of each other by promoting
a general union among us. Much has been done by
the committees of correspondence for this and the
other towns of this province toward uniting the in
habitants; let them still go on and prosper. Much
has been done by the committees of correspondence,
for the houses of assembly, in this and our sister colo
nies, for uniting the inhabitants of the whole conti
nent for the security of their common interest. May
success ever attend their generous endeavors.

But permit me here to suggest a general congress
of deputies from the several houses of assembly on
the continent as the most effectual method of estab
lishing such an union as the present posture of our
affairs require.

At such a congress a firm foundation may be laid
for the security of our rights and liberties; a system
may be formed for our common safety, by a strict
adherence to which we shall be able to frustrate any

1/4 HANCOCK.

attempts to overthrow our Constitution; restore
peace and harmony in America, and secure honor and
wealth to Great Britain even against the inclinations
of her ministers, whose duty it is to study her wel
fare ; and we shall also free ourselves from those un
mannerly pillagers who impudently tell us that they
are licensed by an act of the British Parliament to
thrust their dirty hands into the pockets of every
American. But I trust the happy time will come when,
with the besom of destruction, those noxious vermin
will be swept forever from the streets of Boston.

Surely you never will tamely suffer this country to
be a den of thieves. Remember, my friends, from
whom you sprang. Let not a meanness of spirit un
known to those \vhom you boast of as your fathers
excite a thought to the dishonor of your mothers. I
conjure you by all that is dear, by all that is honor
able, by all that is sacred, not only that ye pray, but
that ye act; that, if necessary, ye fight, and even die,
for the prosperity of our Jerusalem. Break in sun
der, with noble disdain, the bonds with which the
Philistines have bound you. Suffer not yourselves
to be betrayed, by the soft arts of luxury and effemi
nacy, into the pit digged for your destruction. De
spise the glare of wealth. That people who pay
greater respect to a wealthy villain than to an honest,
upright man in poverty, almost deserve to be en
slaved; they plainly show that wealth, however it
may be acquired, is, in their esteem, to be preferred
to virtue.

But I thank God that America abounds in men who
are superior to all temptation; whom nothing can

HANCOCK. 175

divert from a steady pursuit of the interest of their
country ; who are at once its ornament and safeguard.
And sure I am I should not incur your displeasure
if I paid a respect, so justly due to their much honored
characters, in this place. But when I name an Adams,
such a numerous host of fellow patriots rush upon
my mind that I fear it would take up too much of
your time should I attempt to call over the illustrious
roll.

But your grateful hearts will point you to the men ;
and their revered names in all succeeding times shall
grace the annals of America. From them let us, my
friends, take example ; from them let us catch the
divine enthusiasm; and feel, each for himself, the
god-like pleasure of diffusing happiness on all around
us; of delivering the oppressed from the iron grasp
of tyranny; of changing the hoarse complaints and
bitter moans of wretched slaves into those cheerful
songs which freedom and contentment must inspire.

There is a heartfelt satisfaction in reflecting on
our exertions for the public weal which all the suffer
ings an enraged tyrant can inflict will never take
away; which the ingratitude and reproaches of those
whom we have saved from ruin cannot rob us of.
The virtuous asserter of the rights of mankind merits
a reward which even a want of success in his endeav
ors to save his country, the heaviest misfortune
which can befall a genuine patriot, cannot entirely
prevent him from receiving.

I have the most animating confidence that the pres
ent noble struggle for liberty will terminate glor
iously for America. And let Us play the man for our

HANCOCK.

God, and for the cities of our God ; while we are using"
the means in our power, let us humbly commit our
righteous cause to the great Lord of the universe,
who loveth righteousness and hateth iniquity. And
having secured the approbation of our hearts, by a
faithful and unwearied discharge of our duty to our
country, let us joyfully leave our concerns in the hands
of him who raiseth up and putteth down the empires
and kingdoms of the world as he pleases; and with
cheerful submission to his sovereign will devoutly say,
" Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall
fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail,
and the field shall yield no meat ; the flock shall be cut
off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the
stalls; yet we will rejoice in the Lord, we will joy in
the God of our salvation.''

PAINE. 177

Paine, Thomas, a famous Anglo-American patriot,
orator and free-thinker, born at Thetford, Norfolk, England,
Jan. 29, 1737 ; died at New Rochelle, N.Y., June 8, 1809.
He emigrated to America in 1774, and finding employment in
Philadelphia, put forth early in 1776 the pamphlet " Com
mon Sense," which was a leading factor in final triumph of
the American cause. Between December of that year and
December 1783, appeared the sixteen numbers of his publi
cation " The Crisis," in the first of which occurs the famous
phrase, "These are the times that try men's souls." He
was one of the most popular men in the colonies at this
time, and was made secretary to the Committee on Foreign
Affairs by Congress in 1777, and later sent on the mission to
France with Laurens. In 1792 he was elected a member of
the French National Convention, but was presently thrown
into prison by Robespierre, escaping the guillotine by acci
dent. In 1802, when he returned to the United States, his.
former popularity had vanished, very largely on account
of his publication of his " Age of Reason," and he died
in obscuity. Paine had many of the orator's qualifica
tions—readiness, skill in arranging his facts, keen satire,,
an abundance of wit, and a knowledge of the human heart.

SPEECH IN THE FRENCH NATIONAL CON
VENTION.

DELIVERED JULY 7, 1795-

CITIZENS, — The effects of a malignant fever with
which I was afflicted during a rigorous confinement
in the Luxembourg have thus long prevented me from
attending at my post in the bosom of the convention,
and the magnitude of the subject under discussion,

1 78 PAINE.

and no other consideration on earth, could induce me
now to repair to my station.

A recurrence to the vicissitudes I have experienced,
and the critical situation in which I have been placed
in consequence of the French revolution, will throw
upon what I now propose to submit to the convention
the most unequivocal proofs of my integrity and the
rectitude of those principles which have uniformly in
fluenced my conduct.

In England I was proscribed for having vindicated
the French revolution, and I have suffered a rigorous
imprisonment in France for having pursued a similar
mode of conduct. During the reign of terrorism I
was a close prisoner for eight long months, and re
mained so above three months after the era of the
loth Thermidor. I ought, however, to state that I
was not persecuted by the people either of England
or France. The proceedings in both countries were
the effects of the despotism existing in their respec
tive governments. But, even if my persecution had
originated in the people at large, my principles and
conduct would still have remained the same.
Principles which are influenced and subject to the
control of tyranny have not their foundation in the
heart.

A few days ago I transmitted to you, by the ordi
nary mode of distribution, a short treatise entitled
'" Dissertation on the First Principles of Government."
This little work I did intend to have dedicated to the
people of Holland, who, about the time I began to
write it, were determined to accomplish a revolution
in their government, rather than to the people of

PAINE. 179

France, who had long before effected that glorious
object. But there are, in the constitution which is
about to be ratified by the convention, certain articles,
and in the report which preceded it certain points,
so repugnant to reason and incompatible with the true
principles of liberty as to render this treatise, drawn
up for another purpose, applicable to the present oc
casion, and under' this impression I presumed to sub
mit it to your consideration.

If there be faults in the constitution it were better
to expunge them now than to abide the event of their
mischievous tendency; for certain it is that the plan
of the constitution which has been presented to you
is not consistent with the grand object of the revo
lution, nor congenial to the sentiments of the individ
uals who accomplished it.

To deprive half the people in a nation of their rights
as citizens is an easy matter in theory or on paper,
but it is a most dangerous experiment and rarely prac
ticable in the execution.

I shall now proceed to the observations I have to
offer on this important subject; and I pledge myself
that they shall be neither numerous nor diffusive.

In my apprehension a constitution embraces two
distinct parts or objects, the principle and the prac
tice; and it is not only an essential but an indispens
able provision that the practice should emanate from
and accord with the principle. Now I maintain that
the converse of this proposition is the case in the plan
of the constitution under discussion. The first arti
cle, for instance, of the political state of citizens
{vide. Title II of the Constitution) says :

180 PAINE.

" Every man born and resident of France, who,
being twenty-one years of age, has inscribed his
name on the civic register of his canton, and who has
lived afterward one year on the territory of the re
public, and who pays any direct contribution whatso
ever, real or personal, is a French citizen."

I might ask here, if those only who come under the
above description are to be considered as citizens, what
designation do you mean to give the rest of the peo
ple ? I allude to that portion of the people on whom
the principal part of the labor falls, and on whom the
weight of indirect taxation will in the event chiefly
press. In the structure of the social fabric, this class
of people are infinitely superior to that privileged or
der whose only qualification is their wealth or terri
torial possessions. For what is trade without mer
chants? What is land without cultivation? And
what is the produce of the land without manufactures ?
But to return to the subject.

In the first place, this article is incompatible with the
three first articles of the declaration of rights, which
precede the constitution act.

The first article of the declaration of rights says :

" The end of society is the public good ; and the
institution of government is to secure to every indn
yidual the enjoyment of his rights."

But the article of the constitution to which I have
just adverted proposes as the object of society, not
the public good, or in other words, the good of all, but
a partial good, or the good only of a few ; and the con-

PAINE. l8l

stitution provides solely for the rights of this few to
the exclusion of the many.

The second article of the declaration of rights, says :

" The rights of man in society are liberty, equality,
and security of his person and property."

But the article alluded to in the constitution has a
direct tendency to establish the converse of this posi
tion, inasmuch as the persons excluded by this inequal
ity can neither be said to possess liberty nor security
against oppression. They are consigned totally to the
caprice and tyranny of the rest.

The third article of the declaration of rights says:

" Liberty consists in such acts of volition as are not
injurious to others."

But the article of the constitution on which I have
observed breaks down this barrier. It enables the
liberty of one part of society to destroy the freedom of
the other.

Having thus pointed out the inconsistency of this
article to the declaration of rights I shall proceed to
comment on that part of the same article which makes
a direct contribution a necessary qualification to the
right of citzenship.

A modern refinement on the object of public reve
nue has divided the taxes or contributions into two
classes, the direct and the indirect, without being able
to define precisely the distinction or difference be
tween them, because the effect of both is the same.

1 82 PAINE.

Those are designated indirect taxes which fall upon
the consumers of certain articles on which the tax is
imposed, because, the tax being included in the price,
the consumer pays it without taking notice of it.

The same observation is applicable to the territorial
tax. The land proprietors, in order to reimburse them
selves, will rack-rent their tenants : the farmer, of
course, will transfer the obligation to the miller by
enhancing the price of grain ; the miller to the baker,
by increasing the price of flour; and the baker to the
consumer, by raising the price of bread. The terri
torial tax, therefore, though called direct, is in its con
sequences indirect.

To this tax the land proprietor contributes only in
proportion to the quantity of bread and other provi
sions that are consumed in his own family. The de
ficit is furnished by the great mass of the community,
which comprehends every individual of the nation.

From the logical distinction between the direct and
indirect taxation, some emolument may result, I al
low, to auditors of public accounts, etc., but to the
people at large I deny that such a distinction (which
by the way is without a difference) can be productive
of any practical benefit. It ought not, therefore, to be
admitted as a principle in the constitution.

Besides this objection, the provision in question
does not affect to define, secure, or establish the right
of citizenship. It consigns to the caprice or discretion
of the legislature the power of pronouncing who shall
or shall not, exercise the functions of a citizen; and
this may be done effectually, either by the imposition
of a direct or indirect tax, according to the selfish

PAINE. 183

views of the legislators, or by the mode of collecting
the taxes so imposed.

Neither a tenant who occupies an extensive farm,
nor a merchant or manufacturer, ^ who may have em
barked a large capital in their respective pursuits, can
ever, according to this system, attain the pre-emption
of a citizen. On the other hand, any upstart who has
by succession or management got possession of a few
acres of land, or a miserable tenement, may exulting-
ly exercise the functions of a citizen, although per
haps neither possesses a hundredth part of the worth of
property of a simple mechanic, nor contributes in any
proportion to the exigencies of the state.

The contempt in which the old government held
mercantile pursuits, and the obloquy that attached on
merchants and manufacturers, contributed not a little
to its embarrassments and its eventual subversion;
and, strange to tell, though the mischiefs arising from
this mode of conduct are so obvious, yet an article is
proposed for your adoption which has a manifest ten
dency to restore a defect inherent in the monarchy.

I shall now proceed to the second article of the
same title, with which I shall conclude my remarks.

The second article says :

" Every French soldier who shall have served one
or more campaigns in the cause of liberty is deemed a
citizen of the republic without any respect or refer
ence to other qualifications."

It should seem that in this article the committee
were desirous of extricating themselves from a dilem-

1 84 PAINE.

ma into which they had been plunged by the preced
ing article. -When men depart from an established
principle they are compelled to resort to trick and
subterfuge, always shifting their means to preserve
the unity of their objects ; and as it rarely happens that
the first expedient makes amends for the prostitution
of principle, they must call in aid a second of a more
flagrant nature to supply the deficiency of the former.
In this manner legislators go on accumulating error
upon error, and artifice upon artifice, until the mass
becomes so bulky and incongruous, and their embar
rassment so desperate, that they are compelled, as
their last expedient, to resort to the very principle they
had violated. The committee were precisely in this
predicament when they framed this article; and to
me, I confess, their conduct appears specious rather
than efficacious.

It was not for himself alone, but for his family,
that the French citizen at the dawn of the revolution
(for then indeed every man was considered a citizen)
marched soldier-like to the frontiers and repelled a
foreign invasion. He had it not in his contemplation
that he should enjoy liberty for the residue of his
earthly career, and by his own act preclude his off
spring from that inestimable blessing. No ! He
wished to leave it as an inheritance to his children,
and that they also might hand it down to their latest
posterity. If a Frenchman who united in his person
the character of a soldier and a citizen was now to re
turn from the army to his peaceful habitation, he must
address his family in this manner : " Sorry I am that
I cannot leave to you a small portion of what I have

PAINE. 185

acquired by exposing my person to the ferocity of our
enemies and defeating their machinations. I have
helped to establish the republic, and, painful the re
flection, all the laurels which I have won in the field
are blasted, and all the privileges to which my exer
tions have entitled me extend not beyond the period
of my own existence !" Thus the measure that has
been adopted by way of subterfuge falls short of what
the framers of it speculated upon; for in conciliating
the affections of the soldier they have subjected the
father to the most pungent sensations by obliging him
to adopt a generation of slaves.

Citizens, a great deal has been urged respecting in
surrections. I am confident that no man has a greater
abhorrence of them than myself, and I am sorry that
any insinuations should have been thrown out against
me as a promoter of violence of any kind. The whole
tenor of my life and conversation gives the lie to those
calumnies and proves me to be a friend to order, truth,
and justice.

I hope you will attribute this effusion of my senti
ments to my anxiety for the honor and success of the
revolution. I have no interest distinct from that which
has a tendency to meliorate the condition of mankind.
The revolution, as far as it respects myself, has been
productive of more loss and persecution than it is
possible for me to describe or for you to indemnify.
But with respect to the subject under consideration
I could not refrain from declaring my sentiments.

In my opinion, if you subvert the basis of the revo
lution, if you dispense with principles and substitute
expedients, you will extinguish that enthusiasm and

1 86 PAINE.

energy which have hitherto been the life and soul of
the revolution; and you will substitute in its place
nothing but a cold indifference and self-interest which
will again degenerate into intrigue, cunning, and ef
feminacy.

But to discard all considerations of a personal and
subordinate nature, it is essential to the well-being of
the republic that the practical or organic part of the
constitution should correspond with its principles ; and
as this does not appear to be the case in the plan that
has been presented to you it is absolutely necessary
that it should be submitted to the revision of a com
mittee who should be instructed to compare it with
the declaration of rights, in order to ascertain the dif
ference between the two and to make such alterations
as shall render them perfectly consistent and compat
ible with each other.

RUTLEDGE. l8/

Rutledge, John, an American statesman and orator,
born in Charleston, S. C., 1739 ; died there, July 18, 1800.
He was educated for the law in London, and establishing
himself in his native city in 1761 he soon became prominent
in professional and public affairs. He was a delegate to
the Stamp Act Congress in 1765, and on this occasion
made a spirited defence of the principles of colonial union,
and also urged resistance against foreign oppression. He
was a member of the first Continental Congress, and was
termed by Patrick Henry, " by far the greatest orator in
that body." His State chose him its governor and com-
mander-in-chief of its army in 1779, and at the end of the
American Revolution he was elected to Congress and was
among the framers of the Constitution. In 1795 he became
Chief-justice of South Carolina. Among his more notable
speeches is the one delivered before the General Assembly
of South Carolina, in January, 1782.

SPEECH TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

[Governor Rutledge delivered the following speech to the Gen
eral Assembly of South Carolina, met at Jacksonburgh, in that
State, on Friday, the eighteenth day of January, 1782. It evinces
his unwearied zeal and attention to the interests of the colonies,
and presents a vivid picture of the perfidy, rapine, and cruelty which
distinguished the British arms in the southern campaign.

HONORABLE GENTLEMEN OF THE SENATE, MR.
SPEAKER AND GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF REP
RESENTATIVES, — Since the last meeting of a
general assembly the good people of this State have
not only felt the common calamities of war, but from
the wanton and savage manner in which it has been
prosecuted they have experienced such severities as

1 88 RUTLEDGE.

are unpractised and will scarcely be credited by civi
lized nations.

The enemy unable to make any impression on the
northern States, the number of whose inhabitants and
the strength of whose country had baffled their re
peated efforts, turned their views towards the south
ern, which a difference of circumstances afforded
some expectation of conquering, or at least of greatly
distressing. After a long resistance the reduction
of Charleston was effected by the vast superiority of
force with which it had been besieged. The loss of
that garrison, as it consisted of the Continental troops
of Virginia and the Carolinas, and of a number of
militia, facilitated the enemy's march into the country
and their establishment of strong posts in the upper
and interior parts of it, and the unfavorable issue of
the action near Camden induced them vainly to im
agine that no other army could be collected which they
might not easily defeat.

The militia, commanded by the Brigadiers Sumter
and Marion, whose enterprising spirit and unremitting
perseverance under many difficulties are deserving of
great applause, harassed and often defeated large par
ties ; but the numbers of those militia were too few to
contend effectually with the collected strength of the
enemy.

Regardless, therefore, of the sacred ties of honor,
destitute of the feelings of humanity, and determined
to extinguish, if possible, every spark of freedom in
this country ; they, with the insolent pride of conquer
ors, gave unbounded scope to the exercises of their
tyrannical disposition, infringed their public engage-

RUTLEDGE. 189

ments, and violated the most solemn capitulations.
Many of our worthiest citizens were, without cause,
long and closely confined, some on board of prison
ships, and others in the town and castle of St. Augus
tine, their properties disposed of at the will and caprice
of the enemy, and their families sent to different and
distant parts of the continent without the means of
support. Many who had surrendered as prisoners of
war were killed in cold blood ; several suffered death
in the most ignominious manner, and others were de
livered up to savages and put to tortures under which
they expired. Thus, the lives, liberties, and proper
ties of the people were dependent solely on the pleas
ure of British officers, who deprived them of either
or all on the most frivolous pretences. Indians,
slaves, and a desperate banditti of the most profligate
characters were caressed and employed by the enemy
to execute their infamous purposes; devastation and
ruin marked their progress and that of their adher
ents, nor were their violences restrained by the
charms or influence of beauty and innocence ; even the
fair sex, whom it is the duty of all, and the pleasure
and pride of the brave to protect, they and their tender
offspring were victims to the inveterate malice of an
unrelenting foe ; neither the tears of mothers nor the
cries of infants could excite in their breasts pity or
compassion; not only the peaceful habitation of the
widow, the aged, and the infirm, but the holy temples
of the Most High were consumed, in flames kindled
by their sacrilegious hands. They have tarnished the
glory of the British arms, disgraced the profession of

RUTLEDGE.

a soldier, and fixed indelible stigmas of rapine, cruel
ty, perfidy, and profaneness on the British name.

But I can now congratulate you, and I do most cor
dially on the pleasing change of affairs which, under
the blessing of God, the wisdom, prudence, address,
and bravery of the great and gallant General Greene,
and the intrepidity of the officers and men under his
command, have happily effected. A general who is
justly entitled from his many signal services to hon
orable and singular marks of your approbation and
gratitude, his successes have been more rapid and
complete than the most sanguine could have expected ;
the enemy, compelled to surrender or evacuate every
post which they held in the country, frequently de
feated and driven from place to place, are obliged to
seek refuge under the walls of Charleston and on isl
ands in its vicinity. We have now the full and abso
lute possession of every other part of the State, and
the legislative, executive, and judicial powers are in
the free exercise of their respective authorities.

I also most heartily congratulate you on the glorious
victory obtained by the combined forces of America
and France over their common enemy ; when the very
general who was second in command at the reduction
of Charleston, and to whose boasted prowess and
highly extolled abilities the conquest of no less than
three States had been arrogantly committed, was
speedily compelled to accept of the same mortifying
terms which had been imposed on that brave but un
fortunate garrison; to surrender an army of many
thousand regulars, and to abandon his wretched fol
lowers, whom he had artfully seduced from their al-

RUTLEDGE. IQl

legiance by specious promises of protection which he
could never have hoped to fulfil, to the justice of mer
cy of their country: on the naval superiority estab
lished by the illustrious ally of the United States — a
superiority in itself so decided, and in its consequences
so extensive, as must inevitably soon oblige the enemy
to yield to us the only post which they occupy in this
State : and on the reiterated proofs of the sincerest
friendship, and on the great support which America
has received from that powerful monarch — a monarch
whose magnanimity is universally acknowledged and
admired, and on whose royal word we may confident
ly rely for every necessary assistance : on the perfect
harmony which subsists between France and America :
on the stability which her independence has acquired,
and the certainty that it is too deeply rooted ever to
be shaken; for, animated as they are by national hon
or, and united by one common interest, it must and
will be maintained.

What may be the immediate effects on the British
nation, of the events which I have mentioned, of their
loss of territory in other parts of the world, and of
their well-founded apprehensions from the powers of
France, Spain, and Holland, it is impossible to fore
tell. If experience can teach wisdom to a haughty
and infatuated people, and if they will now be govern
ed by reason, they will have learnt they can have no
solid ground of hope to conquer any State in the
Union; for though their armies have obtained tem
porary advantages over our troops, yet the citizens of
these States, firmly resolved as they are never to re
turn to a domination which, near six years ago, they

RUTLEDGE.

unanimously and justly renounced, cannot be sub
dued; and they must now be convinced that it is the
height of folly and madness to persist in so ruinous a
war.

If, however, we judge, as we ought, of their future
by their past conduct, we may presume that they will
not only endeavor to keep possession of our capital,
but make another attempt, howsoever improbable the
success of it may appear, to subjugate this country : it
is therefore highly incumbent upon us to use our most
strenuous efforts to frustrate so fatal a design ; and I
earnestly conjure you, by the sacred love which you
bear to your country, by the constant remembrance of
her bitter sufferings, and by the just detestation of
British government which you and your posterity must
forever possess, to exert your utmost faculties for that
purpose by raising and equipping, with all possible ex
pedition, a respectable permanent force, and by mak
ing ample provision for their comfortable subsistence.

I am sensible the expense will be great ; but a mea
sure so indispensable to the preservation of our free
dom is above every pecuniary consideration.

The organization of our militia is likewise a subject
of infinite importance : a clear and concise law, by
which the burdens of service will be equally sustained
and a competent number of men brought forth and
kept in the field when their assistance may be requir
ed, is essential to our security, and therefore justly
claims your immediate and serious attention : certain
it is that some of our militia have, upon several occa
sions, exhibited symptoms of valor which would have
reflected honor on veteran troops. The courage and

RUTLEDGE. IQ3

conduct of the generals whom I have mentioned; the
cool and determined bravery displayed by Brigadier
Pickens, and, indeed, the behavior of many officers
and men in every brigade, are unquestionable testi
monies of the truth of this assertion. But such be
havior cannot be expected from militia in general,
without good order and strict discipline ; nor can that
order and discipline be established but by a salutary
law steadily executed.

Another important matter for your deliberation is
the conduct of such of our citizens as, voluntarily
avowing their allegiance and even glorifying* in their
professions of loyalty and attachment to his Britannic
Majesty, have offered their congratulations on the
success of his arms, prayed to be embodied as loyal
militia, accepted commissions in his service, or en
deavored to subvert our constitution and establish his
power in its stead ; of those who have returned to this
State, in defiance of law, by which such return was
declared to be a capital offence, and have bettered the
British interest, and of such whose behavior has been
so reprehensible that justice and policy forbid their
free re-admission to the rights and privileges of citi
zens.

The extraordinary lenity of this State has been re
markably conspicuous. Other States have thought it
just and expedient to appropriate the property of
British subjects to the public use; but we have for
borne even to take the profits of the estates of our
most implacable enemies. It is with you to determine
whether the forfeiture and appropriation of their
property should now take place : if such should be your

194 RUTLEDGE.

determination, though many of our warmest friends
have been reduced, for their inflexible attachment to
the cause of their country, from opulence to inconceiv
able distress, and, if the enemy's will and power had
prevailed, would have been doomed to indigence
and beggary, yet it will redound to the reputation of
this State to provide a becoming support for the fam
ilies of those whom you may deprive of their property.

The value of paper currency became of late so much
depreciated that it was requisite, under the powers
vested in the executive during the recess of the Gen
eral Assembly, to suspend the laws by which it was
made a tender. You will now consider whether it
may not be proper to repeal those laws, and fix some
equitable mode for the discharge of debts contracted
whilst paper money was in circulation.

In the present scarcity of specie it would be difficult,
if not impracticable, to levy a tax to any Considerable
amount, towards sinking the public debt, nor will the
creditors of the State expect that such a tax should
at this time be imposed; but it is just and reasonable
that all unsettled demands should be liquidated, and
satisfactory assurances of payment given to the pub
lic creditors.

The interest and honor, the safety and happiness of
our country depend so much on the result of your de
liberations, that I flatter myself you will proceed in
the weighty business before you with firmness and
temper, with vigor, unanimity, and despatch.

BOUDINOT. 195

Boudinot (bb'-di-not), Elias, a noted American pa
triot and philanthropist, born at Philadelphia, May 2, 1740 ;
died at Burlington, N. J., Oct, 24, 1821. He was an active
supporter of the American cause during the Revolutionary
period, and was president of the Continental Congress in
1782. For ten years he was director of the Mint, and he
was the first president of the American Bible Society. He
was a liberal benefactor of benevolent and literary institu
tions, and wrote several works which attracted no small share
of attention in their day. He also won popularity as a public
speaker and his Oration Before the Cincinnati is still read.

ORATION BEFORE THE CINCINNATI.

[This oration was delivered by Mr. Boudinot at Elizabeth town,
New Jersey, agreeably to a resolution of the State Society of the
Cincinnati, on the Fourth of July, 1793.]

GENTLEMEN, BRETHREN, AND FELLOW CITIZENS, —
Having devoutly paid the sacrifice of prayer and
praise to that Almighty Being by whose favor and
mercy this day is peculiarly dedicated to the commem
oration of events which fill our minds with joy and
gladness, it becomes me, in obedience to the resolu
tions of our Society, to aim at a further improvement
of this festival by leading your reflections to the con
templation of those special privileges which attend the
happy and important situation you now enjoy among
the nations of the earth.

Is there any necessity, fellow citizens, to spend your
time in attempting to convince you of the policy and
propriety of setting apart this anniversary for the
7-

196 BOUDINOT.

purpose of remembering with gratitude the unexam
pled event of our political salvation.

The cordial testimony you have borne to this insti
tution for seventeen years past supersedes the neces
sity of an attempt of this kind; and, indeed, if this
had been the first instance of our commemorating the
day, the practice of all nations and of all ages would
have given a sanction to the measure.

The history of the world, as wrell sacred as profane,
bears witness to the use and importance of setting
apart a day as a memorial of great events, whether
of a religious or political nature.

No sooner had the great Creator of the heavens
and the earth finished his almighty work and pro
nounced all very good, but he set apart (not an anni
versary, or one day in a year, but) one day in seven
for the commemoration of his inimitable power in pro
ducing all things out of nothing.

The deliverance of the children of Israel from a
state of bondage to an unreasonable tyrant was per
petuated by the eating of the Paschal Lamb and en
joining it to their posterity as an annual festival for
ever, with a " remember this day, in which ye came
out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."

The resurrection of the Saviour of mankind is com
memorated by keeping the first day of the week, not
only as a certain memorial of his first coming in a state
of humiliation, but the positive evidence of his future
coming in glory.

Let us then, my friends and fellow citizens, unite all
our endeavors this day to remember, with reverential
gratitude to our supreme Benefactor, all the wonder-

BOUDINOT. 197

ful things he has done for us in a miraculous deliver
ance from a second Egypt— another house of bondage.
" And thou shalt show thy son on this day, saying this
day is kept as a day of joy and gladness, because of
the great things the Lord has done for us, when we
were delivered from the threatening po\ver of an in
vading foe. And it shall be a sign unto tliee, upon
thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes,
that the law of the Lord may be in thy mouth, for with
a strong hand hast thou been delivered from thine ene
mies : Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in
its season, from year to year, forever.

When great events are to be produced in this our
world, great exertions generally become necessary;
men are therefore usually raised up, with talents and
powers peculiarly adapted to the purposes intended
by Providence, who often by their disinterested ser
vices and extreme sufferings become the wonder as
well as the examples of their generation.

The obligations of mankind to these worthy char
acters increase in proportion to the importance of the
blessings purchased by their labors.

It is not then an unreasonable expectation which, I
well know, generally prevails, that this day should be
usually devoted to the perpetuating and respectfully
remembering the dignified characters of those great
men with whom it has been our honor to claim the
intimate connection of fellow citizens, — men who
have purchased our present joyful circumstances at
the invaluable price of their blood.

But you must also acknowledge with me that this
subject has been so fully considered and so ably

IQ8 BOUDINOT.

handled by those eloquent and enlightened men who
have gone before me in this honorable path, that had
their superior abilities fallen to my lot I could do but
little more than repeat the substance of their obser
vations and vary their language.

Forgive me, ye spirits of my worthy, departed fel
low citizens! — patriots of the first magnitude, whose
integrity no subtle arts of bribery and corruption could
successfully assail ; and whose fortitude and persever
ance no difficulties or dangers could intimidate, whose
labors and sufferings in the common cause of our
country ; whose exploits in the field and wisdom in the
cabinet, I have often been witness to during a cruel
and distressing war! Forgive, O Warren, Montgom
ery! and all the nameless heroes of your illustrious
group! Forgive, that I omit on the present occa
sion to follow the steps of those compatriots who have
preceded me, but had rather spend this sacred hour in
contemplating those great purposes which animated
your souls in the severe conflict, and for which you
fought and bled!

Were you present to direct this day's meditations,
would you not point to your scarred limbs and bleed
ing breasts, and loudly call upon us to reward your
toils and sufferings by forcibly inculcating and improv
ing those patriotic principles and practices which led
you to those noble achievements that secured the
blessings we now enjoy?

Yes, ye martyrs to liberty! ye band of heroes! ye
once worthy compatriots and fellow citizens! We
will obey your friendly suggestion, and greatly prize
that freedom and independence, purchased by your

BOUDINOT. 199

united exertions, as the most invaluable gem of our
earthly crown !

The late revolution, my respected audience, in
which we this day rejoice, is big with events that are
daily unfolding themselves and pressing in thick suc
cession, to the astonishment of a wondering world !

It has been marked with the certain characteristics
of a divine overruling hand, in that it was brought
about and perfected against all human reasoning, and
apparently against all human hope; and that in the
very moment of time when all Europe seemed ready
to be plunged into commotion and distress.

Divine Providence, throughout the government of
this world, appears to have impressed many great
events with the undoubted evidence of his own al
mighty arm. He putteth down kingdoms and he set-
teth up whom he pleaseth, and it has been literally
verified in us that " no king prevaileth by the power of
his own strength."

The first great principle established and secured by
our revolution, and which since seems to be pervad
ing all the nations of the earth, and which should be
most zealously and carefully improved and gloried in
by us, is the rational equality and rights of men as
men and citizens.

I do not mean to hold up the absurd idea charged
upon us by the enemies of this valuable principle, and
which contains in it inevitable destruction to every
government, " that all men are equal as to acquired
or adventitious rights." Men must and do continu
ally differ in their genius, knowledge, industry, integ
rity, and activity.

200 BOUDINOT.

Their natural and moral characters — their virtues
and vices — their abilities, natural and acquired — to
gether with favorable opportunities for exertion, will
always make men different among themselves, and of
course create a pre-eminency and superiority one over
another. But the equality and rights of men here con
templated are natural, essential, and inalienable, such
as the security of life, liberty, and property. These
should be the firm foundation of every good govern
ment, as they will apply to all nations at all times and
may properly be called a universal law. It is apparent
that 'every man is born with the same right to im
prove the talent committed to him, for the use and
benefit of society, and to be respected accordingly.

We are all the workmanship of the same divine
hand. With our Creator, abstractly considered, there
are neither kings nor subjects, masters nor servants,
otherwise than stewards of his appointment, to serve
each other according to our different opportunities
and abilities, and of course accountable for the man
ner in which we perform our duty. He is no respect
er of persons; he beholds all with an equal eye; and,
although " order is heaven's first law," and he has
made it essential to every good government, and ne
cessary for the welfare of every community, that there
should be distinctions among members of the same
.society, yet this difference is originally designed for
the service, benefit, and best good of the wrhole, and
not for their oppression or destruction.

It is our duty then, as a people, acting on principles
of universal application, to convince mankind of the
truth and practicability of them by carrying them into

BOUDINOT. 201

actual exercise for the happiness of our fellow men,,
without suffering to be perverted to oppression or li
centiousness.

The eyes of the nations of the earth are fast open
ing, and the inhabitants of this globe, notwithstand
ing it is 3,000 years since the promulgation of that
invaluable precept, " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself," are but just beginning to discover their
brotherhood to each other, and that all men, however
different with regard to nation or color, have an es
sential interest in each other's welfare.

Let it then be our peculiar, constant care and vigi
lant attention to inculcate this sacred principle, and to
hand it down to posterity improved by every generous
and liberal practice, that while we are rejoicing in
our own political and religious privileges we may
with pleasure contemplate the happy period when all
the nations of the earth shall join in the triumph of
this day, and one universal anthem of praise shall
arise to the universal Creator in return for the general
joy.

Another essential ingredient in the happiness we
enjoy as a nation, and which arises from the princi
ples of the revolution, is the right that every people
have to govern themselves in such manner as they
judge best calculated for the common benefit.

It is a principle interwoven with our constitution,
and not one of the least blessings purchased by that
glorious struggle, to the commemoration of which
this day is specially devoted, that every man has a
natural right to be governed by laws of his own mak
ing, either in person or by his representative; and

2O2 BOUDINOT.

that no authority ought justly to be exercised over
him that is not derived from the people, of whom he
is one.

This, fellow citizens, is a most important, practical
principle, first carried into complete execution by the
United States of America.

I tremble for the event, while I glory in the sub
ject.

To you, ye citizens of America! do the inhabitants
of the earth look with eager attention for the success
of a measure on which their happiness and prosperity
so manifestly depend.

To use the words of a famous foreigner, " You are
become the hope of human nature and ought to be
come its great example. The asylum opened in your
land for the oppressed of all nations must console the
earth."

On your virtue, patriotism, integrity, and submis
sion to the laws of your own making and the govern
ment of your own choice do the hopes of men rest
with prayers and supplications for a happy issue.

Be not, therefore, careless, indolent, or inattentive
in the exercise of any right of citizenship. Let no
duty, however small or seemingly of little importance,
be neglected by you.

Ever keep in mind that it is parts that form the
whole, and fractions constitute the unit. Good gov
ernment generally begins in the family, and if the
moral character of a people once degenerates their
political character must soon follow.

A friendly consideration of our fellow citizens who
by our free choice become the public servants and

BOUDINOT. 203

manage the affairs of our common country is but a
reasonable return for their diligence and care in our
service.

The most enlightened and zealous of our public
servants can do little without the exertions of private
citizens to perfect what they do but form as it were
in embryo. The highest officers of our government
are but the first servants of the people and always in
their power: they have, therefore, a just claim to a
fair and candid experiment of the plans they form
and the laws they enact for the public weal. Too
much should not be expected from them; they are
but men and of like passions and of like infirmities
with ourselves; they are liable to err, though exercis
ing the purest motives and best abilities required for
the purpose.

Times and circumstances may change and accidents
intervene to disappoint the wisest measures. Mis
taken and wicked men (who cannot live but in
troubled waters) are often laboring with indefatig
able zeal, which sometimes proves but too successful,
to sour our minds, and derange the best-formed sys
tems. Plausible pretensions and censorious insinua
tions are always at hand to transfer the deadly poison
of jealousy by which the best citizens may for a time
be deceived.

These considerations should lead to an attentive
solicitude to keep the pure, unadulterated principles
of our constitution always in view; to be religiously
careful in our choice of public officers; and as they
are again in our power at very short periods lend not
too easily a patient ear to every invidious insinuation

2O4 BOUDINOT.

or improbable story, but prudently mark the effects
of their public measures and judge of the tree by
its fruits.

I do not wish to discourage a constant and lively
attention to the conduct of our rulers. A prudent
suspicion of public measures is a great security to a
republican government; but a line should be drawn
between a careful and critical examination into the
principles and effects of regular systems after a fair
and candid trial, and a captious, discontented, and
censorious temper, which leads to find fault with
every proposition in which we have not an immediate
hand, and raise obstacles to rational plans of govern
ment without waiting a fair experiment. It is
generally characteristic of this disposition to find fault
without proposing a better plan for consideration.

We should not forget that our country is large, and
our fellow citizens of different manners, interests and
habits; that our laws, to be right, must be equal and
general. Of course the differing interests must be
combined, and brotherly conciliation and forbearance
continually exercised, if we will judge with propriety
of those measures that respect a nation at large.

While we thus enjoy as a community the blessings
of the social compact in its purity, and are all endeav
oring to secure the invaluable privileges purchased
by the blood of thousands of our brethren who fell in
the dreadful conflict, let us also be careful to encour
age and promote a liberality and benevolence of mind
toward those whom they have left behind, and whose
unhappy fate it has been to bear a heavier proportion
of the expensive purchase in the loss of husbands,

BOUDINOT. 205

parents, or children, perhaps their only support and
hope in life.

Mankind, considered as brethren, should be dear
to each other; but, fellow citizens, who have together
braved the common danger, — who have fought side
by side, — who have mingled their blood together, as
it were in one rich stream, — who have labored and
toiled with united efforts to accomplish the same
glorious end, must surely be more than brethren —
it is a union cemented by blood.

I can no longer deny myself the felicity, my be
loved friends and fellow citizens, members of a So
ciety founded on these humane and benevolent prin
ciples, of addressing myself more particularly to you
on a day which in so peculiar a manner shines with
increasing lustre on you, refreshing and brightening
your hard-earned laurels, by renewing the honorable
reward of your laborious services in the gratitude of
your rejoicing fellow citizens.

Methinks I behold you on the victorious banks of
the Hudson, bowed down with the fatigues of an
active campaign and the sufferings of an inclement
winter, receiving the welcome news of approaching
peace and your country's political salvation with all
that joy of heart and serenity of mind, that become
citizens who flew to their arms, merely at their coun
try's call, in a time of common danger.

The \var-worn soldiers, reduced to the calamities
of a seven years' arduous service, now solemnly pause
and reflect on the peculiarity of their critical situa
tion. The ravages of war had been extended through
a country dearer to them than life, and thereby pre-

2O6 BOUDINOT.

vented that ample provision in service, or reasonable
recompense on their return to private life, that prud
ence required and gratitude powerfully dictated.

They thought that the distresses of the army had
before been brought to a point ; " that they had borne
all that men could bear; their property expended;
their private resources at an end; their friends
wearied out and disgusted with incessant applica
tions." But another trial, severer than all, still awaits
them; they are now to be disbanded and a separation
to take place more distressing than every former
scene ! Till now the severe conflict was unseen or
unattended to. Poverty and the gratitude of their
country are their only reward.

True, they are to return to their friends and fellow
citizens with blessings on their heads. The general
liberty and independence are now secured, — but yet
want and dire distress stare many in the face. They
are to return to wives and children, long used to de
pendence on the cold hand of charity, in hopes of a
sure support from the success of the common cause,
when their husband, father, or child returned glorious
from the field of conquest. Alas! these flattering
hopes now are no more.

Their country's exhausted treasury cannot yield
them even the hard-earned pittance of a soldier's pay.
Being urged on one hand by the subtle poison of in
flammatory, violent, and artful addresses under the
specious mask of pretended friendship (the last expir
ing effort of a conquered foe), — warned on the other
hand by the experience, wisdom, and rational conduct

BOUDINOT. 2O7

of their beloved commander, their father and long-
tried friend, — they solemnly deliberate.

Some guardian angel, perhaps the happy genius of
America, ever attendant on the object of her care,
raises the drooping head, wipes the indignant, falling
tear from the hardy soldier's eye, and suggests the
happy expedient !

Brotherly affection produces brotherly relief — the
victorious bands unite together — they despise the in
famous idea — they refuse to listen to the siren's song
— they form the social tie — they cast in the remaining
fragment of their scanty pay, and instead of seizing
their arms and demanding their rights by menace and
violence they refuse " to lessen the dignity or sully
the glory they had hitherto maintained. They deter
mined to give one more proof of unexampled patriot
ism and patient virtue, rising superior to the pressure
of their complicated sufferings, and thereby afford
an occasion to posterity to say, had that day been
wanting, the world had not seen the last stage of
political perfection to which human nature is capable
of attaining."

The glorious certainty of peace, purchased by their
sufferings and perseverance, now rouses the patriotic
fire. They again rejoice in the event; they unite in a
firm, indissoluble bond, " gratefully to commemorate
the event which gave independence to America, — to
inculcate to latest ages the duty of laying down in
peace arms assumed for public defence in war, — to
continue their mutual friendship, which commenced
under the pressure of common dangers, and to ef
fectuate every act of beneficence dictated by a spirit

2O8 BOUDINOT.

of brotherly kindness to any of their number and their
families who might unfortunately be under the ne
cessity of receiving them;" and by this unanimous act
establish this sacred truth, " that the glory of soldiers
cannot be well completed without acting well the part
of citizens."

This, gentlemen, is your origin as a Society — the
source from whence you sprang, and this day we are
carrying on the work first begun in these social prin
ciples.

With a heart filled with unfeigned gratitude to the
Author of all our mercies, and overflowing with the
most affectionate friendship toward you, suffer me to
congratulate you on this seventeenth anniversary of
our happy independence. Long, long, even to the
remotest ages, may the citizens of this rising empire
enjoy the triumph of this day; may they never forget
the invaluable price which it costs, as well as the
great purposes for which it was instituted, and may
a frequent recurrence to the first principles of our
constitution on this anniversary be a constant source
of security and permanence to the rising fabric ! May
the rights of man and the purity of a free, energetic,
and independent government be continually cherished
and promoted by every son of Cincinnatus ! May
the remembrance of those worthy heroes, once our
beloved companions, whose lives they did not hold
dear when required for their country's safety, ani
mate us to preserve inviolate what they purchased
at so high a rate! May we, by the uniform conduct
of good citizens and generous, faithful friends, show
ourselves worthy of such valuable connections!

EOUDINOT. 209

Long, long may you live to enjoy the reward of
your labors, in the exercise of the duties of this hon
orable anniversary; and after a long life of services to
your country, usefulness <to your Society, and happi
ness to yourselves, may you leave your generation in
the full enjoyment of peace and a sound constitution,
justified by experience, for the example of which,
nations yet unborn shall rise up and call you blessed!

And now, my respected audience, we appeal to your
candor and generosity; you have heard our origin —
you have known our conduct — our Society is design
ed for the happiness and benefit of mankind — we have
no secrets — we claim no separate privileges — we ask
no independent immunities — we are embarked in one
common cause with you — we glory in one perfect po
litical equality, — all we wish for is the pleasure of re
newing ancient friendships, of the mutual remem
brance of past labors and sufferings, the liberal exer
cise of that celestial principle, charity, and one com
mon interest with you in the security of our liberty,
property and independence.

We profess to be a band of brethren, united to our
fellow citizens by every tie of interest, gratitude, and
love. Let us then go hand in hand with you in look
ing forward to the happy state of our country during
a long succession of ages yet to come.

We are encouraged in this animating hope by the
numerous advantages arising to us, in a peculiar man
ner, from the happy revolution we commemorate this
day; they are conspicuous in every quarter to which
the view can be directed.

If we turn our attention to the strong hope of every

2IO BOUDINOT.

community, the rising generation, the world has yet
enjoyed nothing equal to their advantages and future
prospects.

The road to honors, riches, usefulness, and fame,
in this happy country, is open equally to all. The
equality of citizens in its true sense must raise the most
lively hopes, prompt the noblest exertions, and secure
a certainty of success to all, who shall excel in the
service of their country, without respect of persons.

The meanest citizen of America educates his belov
ed child with a well-founded hope that if he should
become equal to the task he may rationally aspire to
the command of our armies, a place in the cabinet, or
even to the filling of the presidential chair; he stands
on equal ground in regard to the first honors of the
state with the richest of his fellow citizens.

The child of the poorest laborer, by enjoying the
means of education (afforded in almost every corner
of this happy land), is trained up for and is encourag
ed to look forward to a share in the legislation of the
Union or of a particular State with as much confi
dence as the noblest subject of an established mon
archy.

This is a peculiar happiness of our highly favored
republic among the nations of the earth, proceeding
from the successful revolution in which we this day
rejoice.

Suffer me, ye fair daughters of New Jersey ! to call
on you also in a special manner to add your invigorat
ing smiles to the mirth and festivity of this day. Our
happiness can be but half complete if you refuse to
crown the whole with your kind approbation.

BOUDINOT. 211

Have you not at all times and do you not still con
tinue to participate deeply in the multiplied blessings
of our common country ? Raised from the humiliating
state of your sex in most other countries, you also
breathe the sacred air of freedom and nobly unite
your exertions for the general good.

The rights of women are no longer strange sounds
to an American ear; they are now heard as familiar
terms in every part of the United States ; and I de
voutly hope that the day is not far distant when we
shall find them dignifying, in a distinguishing code,
the jurisprudence of the several States in the Union.

But in your domestic character do you not also en
joy the most delightful contemplations arising from
the Revolution of Seventeen Hundred and Seventy-
six?

Can you look on the children of your tenderest care,
and reflect on the cheerful prospects opening upon
them through life, without feeling the most lively
emotions of gratitude for the inestimable privileges
conferred on the citizens of America? Are not your
resolutions strengthened and your endeavors redou
bled to furnish them with every qualification, both
mental and personal, for the future service of a coun
try thus rendered dear to you?

But your share o'f the joy of this day does not rise
from a single source. To whom are we more indebt
ed for the origin of our present happiness than to
your delicate and discerning sex ? In vain did Colum
bus, our great founder and discoverer, after settling
the principles of his sound philosophy, apply to the
wise men of his country. In vain did he solicit, in

212 BOUDINOT.

strains of the most suppliant humiliation, the dif
ferent thrones of Europe, when kings considered
themselves as God's vicegerents here below; despised
by the ignorant — traduced by the malevolent — con
temned by the great — laughed at by pretended phil
osophers — and trifled with by the arrogance of min
isters and their hirelings ; all his hopes and those of a
New World had, at last, sunk in despair, and we, this
day, might have mingled our fate with the slaves of
the Old World, had not the penetrating wisdom and
persevering magnanimity of the fair but undaunted
Isabella, the ornament of your sex, and the jealousy
of ours, saved this Western World from the oblivion
of more than five thousand years. Did she employ the
excess of useless treasures in this happy adventure?
No ! — after the refusal of her husband — despising the
appendages of brilliant royalty when compared with
the general good of mankind, her enlarged mind, in
capable of being confined by the shackles of the age,
found a resource in her costly jewels, which she free
ly offered as a pledge to accomplish the glorious dis
covery of the fourth quarter of the globe !

To your sex, then, ladies, are we obliged to yield
the palm: had this great event depended altogether
on our sex, it is not easy to guess what our united
fate had been at this moment. Instead of our present
agreeable employment, we might have been hewers
of wood and drawers of water to some mighty Pha
raoh whose tender mercies would have been cruelty.
Your right, then, my fair auditory, to a large portion
of the general joy, must be acknowledged to be of a
superior kind.

BOUDINOT. 213

Do you, my worthy fellow citizens of e,very descrip
tion, wish for more lasting matter of pleasure and sat
isfaction in contemplating the great events brought
to your minds this day? Extend, then, your views to
a distant period of future time. Look forward a few
years, and behold our extended forests (now a path
less wilderness) converted into fruitful fields and busy
towns. Take into view the pleasing shores of our
immense lakes, united to the Atlantic States by a
thousand winding canals, and beautified with rising
cities, crowded with innumerable peaceful fleets,
transporting the rich produce from one coast to an
other.

Add to all this, what must most please every
humane and benevolent mind, the ample provision
thus made by the God of all flesh for the reception
of the nations of the earth flying from the tyranny
and oppression of the despots of the Old World, and
say if the prophecies of ancient times are not hasten
ing to a fulfilment, when this wilderness shall blossom
as a rose, the heathen be given to the Great Redeemer
as his inheritance, and these uttermost parts of the
earth for his possession.

Who knows but the country for which we have
fought and bled may hereafter become a theatre of
greater events than yet have been known to mankind ?

May these invigorating prospects lead us to the
exercise of every virtue, religious, moral, and polit
ical. May we be roused to a circumspect conduct, —
to an exact obedience to the laws of our own making,
— to the preservation of the spirit and principles of
our truly invaluable constitution, — to respect and at-

214 BOUDINOT.

tention to magistrates of our own choice; and finally,
by our example as well as precept, add to the real
happiness of our fellow men and the particular glory
of our common country.

And may these great principles in the end become
instrumental in bringing about that happy state of
the world when, from every human breast, joined by
the grand chorus of the skies, shall arise with the
profoundest reverence that divinely celestial anthem
of universal praise, — " Glory to God in the highest;
peace on earth; good will toward men."

WARREN. 215

Warren, Joseph, a famous American patriot and ora
tor, born in Roxbury, Mass., June u, 1741 ; died at Charles-
town, Mass., June 17, 1775. He began the practice of med
icine in Boston in 1762, and early taking an interest in
political affairs, he joined a secret society of lovers of liberty.
His talents as an orator becoming known, he was chosen to
deliver the civic oration upon the occasion of the second
anniversary of The Boston Massacre, in 1772. In 1775 he
was again chosen to deliver the oration upon the same
theme, and although the English soldiery had threatened the
life of any person adventurous enough to deliver the oration
upon that anniversary, Warren was undeterred and pro
nounced the address as he had at first intended. At the
battle of Bunker Hill, Warren was killed while fighting as a
volunteer. Less fiery and impassioned as a speaker than
Samuel Adams or James Otis, he was not without abundant
vigor, and he held listeners in the deepest attention.

ORATION ON THE BOSTON MASSACRE.

[Dr. Warren was undaunted by the threats of the British who
had vowed to take the life of any one daring to deliver an oration
upon the anniversary of the Boston massacre. Upon March 6,
1775, the Old South Church being rilled to overflowing, Warren
made his entrance from the rear of the building through the pul
pit window, and unmoved by the array of soldiers and officers be
fore him delivered the oration with a firm and determined pur
pose.]

MY EVER-HONORED FELLOW ClTIZENS, It IS not

without the most humiliating" conviction of my want
of ability that I now appear before you : but the sense
I have of the obligation I am under to obey the calls
of my country at all times, together with an animat-

2l6 WARREN.

ing recollection of your indulgence exhibited upon so
many occasions, has induced me once more, undeserv
ing as I am, to throw myself upon that candor which
looks with kindness on the feeblest efforts of an
honest mind.

You will not now expect the elegance, the learning,
the fire, the enrapturing strains of eloquence, which
charmed you when a Lovell, a Church, or a Hancock
spake ; but you will permit me to say that with a sin
cerity equal to theirs I mourn over my bleeding coun
try. With them I weep at her distress, and with them
deeply resent the many injuries she has received
from the hands of cruel and unreasonable men.

That personal freedom is the natural right of every
man, and that property, or an exclusive right to dis
pose of what he has honestly acquired by his own
labor, necessarily arises therefrom, are truths Avhich
common sense has placed beyond the reach of contra
diction. And no man or body of men can, without
being guilty of flagrant injustice, claim a right to dis
pose of the persons or acquisitions of any other man
or bocly of men unless it can be proved that such a
right has arisen from some compact between the
parties in which it has been explicitly and freely
granted.

If I may be indulged in taking a retrospective view
of the first settlement of our country it will be easy
to determine with what degree of justice the late
Parliament of Great Britain have assumed the power
of giving away that property which the Americans
have earned by their labor.

Our fathers, having nobly resolved never to wear

WARREN. 217

the yoke of despotism, and seeing the European
world, at that time, through indolence and cowardice,
falling a prey to tyranny, bravely threw themselves
upon the bosom of the ocean, determined to find a
place in which they might enjoy their freedom or
perish in the glorious attempt. Approving heaven
beheld the favored ark dancing upon the waves, and
graciously preserved it until the chosen families were
brought in safety to these western regions. They
found the land swarming with savages, who threat
ened death with every kind of torture.

But savages, and death with torture, were far less
terrible than slavery. Nothing was so much the ob
ject of their abhorrence as a tyrant's power. They
knew it was more safe to dwell with man in his most
unpolished state than in a country where arbitrary
power prevails. Even anarchy itself, that bugbear
held up by the tools of power (though truly to be
deprecated), is infinitely less dangerous to mankind
than arbitrary government. Anarchy can be but of a
short duration ; for, when men are at liberty to pursue
that course which is more conducive to their own hap
piness, they will soon come into it; and from the
rudest state of nature, order and good government
must soon arise. But tyranny, when once established,
entails its curses on a nation to the latest period of
time; unless some daring genius, inspired by heaven,
shall, unappalled by danger, bravely foRn and exe
cute the arduous designs of restoring liberty and life
to his enslaved, murdered country.

The tools of power, in every age, have racked their
inventions to justify the few in sporting with the hap-

218 WARREN.

piness of the many; and, having found their sophistry
too weak to hold mankind in bondage, have impiously
dared to force religion, the daughter of the King of
Heaven, to become a prostitute in the service of hell.
They taught that princes, honored with the name of
Christian, might bid defiance to the founder of their
faith, might pillage pagan countries and deluge them
with blood, only because they boasted themselves to
be the disciples of that Teacher who strictly charged
his followers to do to others as they would that others
should do unto them.

This country, having been discovered by an English
subject in the year 1620, was (according to the sys
tem which the blind superstition of those times sup
ported) deemed the property of the Crown of Eng
land. Our ancestors, when they resolved to quit their
native soil, obtained from King James a grant of
certain lands in North America. This they probably
did to silence the cavils of their enemies, for it cannot
be doubted but they despised the pretended right
which he claimed thereto. Certain it is that he might
with equal propriety and justice have made them a
grant of the planet Jupiter. And their subsequent
conduct plainly shows that they were too well ac
quainted with humanity and the principles of natural
equity to suppose that the grant gave them any right
to take possession ; they therefore entered into a treaty
with the natives and bought from them the lands.
Nor have I ever yet obtained any information that
our ancestors ever pleaded, or that the natives ever
regarded the grant from the English Crown : the busi
ness was transacted by the parties in the same inde-

WARREN. 219

i

pendent manner that it would have been had neither
of them ever known or heard of the island of Great
Britain.

Having become the honest proprietors of the soil,
they immediately applied themselves to the cultiva
tion of it ; and they soon beheld the virgin earth teem
ing with richest fruits, a grateful recompense for their
unwearied toil. The fields began to wave with ripen
ing harvests, and the late barren wilderness was seen
to blossom like the rose.

The savage natives saw with wronder the delight
ful change, and quickly formed a scheme to obtain
that by fraud or force, which nature meant as the re
ward of industry alone. But the illustrious emigrants
soon convinced the rude invaders that they were not
less ready to take the field for battle than for labor;
and the insidious foe was driven from their borders
as often as he ventured to disturb them.

The Crown of England looked with indifference
on the contest; our ancestors were left alone to com
bat with the natives. Nor is there any reason to
believe that it ever was intended by the one party, or
expected by the other, that the grantor should defend
and maintain the grantees in the peaceable possession
of the lands named in the patents. And it appears
plainly from the history of those times that neither
the prince nor the people of England thought them
selves much interested in the matter. They had not
then any idea of a thousandth part of those advantages
which they since have, and we are most heartily will
ing they should still continue to reap from us.

But when, at an infinite expense of toil and blood,

22O WARREN.

this widely extended continent had been cultivated
and defended; when the hardy adventurers justly ex
pected that they and their descendants should peace
ably have enjoyed the harvest of those fields which
they had sown, and the fruit of those vineyards which
they had planted, this country was then thought
worthy the attention of the British ministry; and the
only justifiable and only successful means of render
ing the colonies serviceable to Britain were adopted.
By an intercourse of friendly offices the two countries
became so united in affection that they thought not of
any distinct or separate interests, they found both
countries flourishing and happy.

Britain saw her commerce extended and her wealth
increased; her lands raised to an immense value; her
fleets riding triumphant on the ocean; the terror of
her arms spreading to every quarter of the globe.
The colonist found himself free and thought himself
secure : he dwelt under his own vine and under his
own fig-tree and had none to make him afraid. He
knew, indeed, that by purchasing the manufactures
of Great Britain he contributed to its greatness : he
knew that all the wealth that his labor produced cen
tred in Great Britain.

But that, far from exciting his envy, filled him with
the highest pleasure; that thought supported him in
all his toils. When the business of the clay was past,
he solaced himself with the contemplation, or perhaps
entertained his listening family with the recital of
some great, some glorious transaction which shines
conspicuous in the history of Britain; or, perhaps, his
elevated fancy led him to foretell, with a kind of en-

WARREN. 221

thusiastic confidence, the glory, power, and duration
of an empire which should extend from one end of
the earth to the other. He saw, or thought he saw,
the British nation risen to a pitch of grandeur which
cast a veil over the Roman glory, and, ravished with
the preview, boasted a race of British kings whose
names should echo through those realms where Cyrus,
Alexander, and the Caesars were unknown; princes
for whom millions of grateful subjects redeemed from
slavery and pagan ignorance, should, with thankful
tongues, offer up their prayers and praises to that
transcendently great and beneficent Being, " by whom
kings reign and princes decree justice."

These pleasing connections might have continued;
these delightsome prospects might have been every
day extended; and even the reveries of the most
warm imagination might have been realized, but, un
happily for us, unhappily for Britain, the madness of
an avaricious minister of state has drawn a sable cur
tain over the charming scene, and in its stead has
brought upon the stage discord, envy, hatred, and
revenge, with civil war close in their rear.

Some demon, in an evil hour, suggested to a short
sighted financier the hateful project of transferring
the whole property of the king's subjects in America
to his subjects in Britain. The claim of the British
Parliament to tax the colonies can never be supported
but by such a transfer; for the right of the House of
Commons of Great Britain to originate any tax or
grant money is altogether derived from their being
elected by the people of Great Britain to act for them ;
and the people of Great Britain cannot confer on

222 WARREN.

their representatives a right to give or grant anything"
which they themselves have not a right to give or
grant personally.

Therefore it follows that if the members chosen by
the people of Great Britain to represent them in Par
liament have, by virtue of their being so chosen, any
right to give or grant American property, or to lay
any tax upon the lands or persons of the colonists, it
is because the lands ancl people in the colonies are,
bona fide, owned by and justly belonging to the peo
ple of Great Britain. But (as has been before observ
ed) every man has a right to personal freedom; con
sequently a right to enjoy what is acquired by his own
labor. And it is evident that the property in this coun
try has been acquired by our own labor; it is the duty
of the people of Great Britain to produce some com
pact in which we have explicitly given up to them a
right to dispose of our persons or property. Until
this is done, every attempt of theirs, or of those whom
they have deputed to act for them, to give or grant
any part of our property, is directly repugnant to ev
ery principle of reason and natural justice.

But I may boldly say that such a compact never ex
isted, no, not even in imagination. Nevertheless, the
representatives of a nation long famed for justice and
the exercise of every noble virtue have been prevail
ed on to adopt the fatal scheme; and although the
dreadful consequences of this wicked policy have al
ready shaken the empire to its centre, yet still it is
persisted in. Regardless of the voice of reason; deaf
to the prayers and supplications, and unaffected with
the flowing tears of suffering millions, the British

WARREN. 223

ministry still hug the darling idol; and every rolling
year affords fresh instances of the absurd devotion
with which they worship it. Alas ! how has the folly,
the distraction of the British councils blasted our
swelling hopes and spread a gloom over this western
hemisphere.

The hearts of Britons and Americans, which late
ly felt the generous glow of mutual confidence and
love, now burn with jealousy and rage. Though but
of yesterday, I recollect (deeply affected at the ill-
boding change) the happy hours that passed- whilst
Britain and America rejoiced in the prosperity and
greatness of each other. Heaven grant those halcyon
days may soon return ! But now the Briton too often
looks on the American with an envious eye, taught
to consider his just plea for the enjoyment of his
earnings as the effect of pride and stubborn opposi
tion to the parent country, whilst the American be
holds the Briton as the ruffian, ready first to take
away his property, and next, what is still dearer to ev
ery virtuous man, the liberty of his country.

When the measures of administration had disgusted
the colonies to the highest degree, and the people of
Great Britain had, by artifice and falsehood, been ir
ritated against America, an army was sent over to
enforce submission to certain acts of the British Par
liament which reason scorned to countenance and
which placemen and pensioners were found unable to
support.

Martial law and the government of a well-regulated
city are so entirely different that it has always been
considered as improper to quarter troops in populous

224 WARREN.

cities; frequent disputes must necessarily arise be
tween the citizen and the soldier, even if no previous
animosities subsist. And it is further certain, from a
consideration of the nature of mankind, as well as
from constant experience, that standing armies al
ways endanger the liberty of the subject. But when
the people, on the one part, considered the army as
sent to enslave them, and the army, on the other,
were taught to look on the people as in a state of re
bellion, it was but just to fear the most disagreeable
consequences. Our fears, we have seen, were but too
well grounded.

The many injuries offered to the town I pass over
in silence. I cannot now mark out the path which led
to that unequalled scene of horror, the sad remem
brance of which takes the full possession of my soul.
The sanguinary theatre again opens itself to view.
The baleful images of terror crowd around me; and
discontented ghosts, with hollow groans, appear to sol
emnize the anniversary of the fifth of March.

Approach we then the melancholy. walk of death.
Hither let me call the gay companion; here let him
drop a farewell tear upon that body which so late he
saw vigorous and warm with social mirth; hither let
me lead the tender mother to weep over her beloved
son — come, widowed mourner, here satiate thy grief;
behold thy murdered husband gasping -on the ground,
and to complete the pompous show of wretchedness,
bring in each hand thy infant children to bewail their
father's fate — take heed, ye orphan babes, lest, whilst
your streaming eyes are fixed upon the ghastly corpse,

WARREN. 225

your feet slide on the stones bespattered with your
father's brains!

Enough ; this tragedy need not be heightened by an
infant weltering in the blood of him that gave it birth.
Nature, reluctant, shrinks already from the view, and
the chilled blood rolls slowly backward to its foun
tain. We wildly stare about, and with amazement ask
who spread this ruin around us? What wretch has
dared deface the image of his God? Has haughty
France, or cruel Spain, sent forth her myrmidons?
Has the grim savage rushed again from the far dis
tant wilderness; or does some fiend, fierce from the
depth of hell, with all the rancorous malice which the
apostate damned can feel twang her destructive bow
and hurl her deadly arrows at our breast?

No, none of these — but, how astonishing! it is the
hand of Britain that inflicts the wound ! The arms of
George, our rightful king, have been employed to
shed that blood, when justice, or the honor of his
crown, had called his subjects to the field.

But pity, grief, astonishment, with all the softer
movements of the soul, must now give way to strong
er passions. Say, fellow citizens, what dreadful
thought now swells your heaving bosoms; you fly to
arms — sharp indignation flashes from each eye — je-
venge gnashes her iron teeth — death grins a hide
ous smile, secure to drench his greedy jaws in human
'gore — whilst hovering furies darken all the air !

But stop, my bold, adventurous countrymen; stain
not your weapons with the blood of Britons. Attend
to reason's voice ; humanity puts in her claim and sues
to be again admitted to her wonted seat, the bosom of

226 WARREN.

the brave. Revenge is far beneath the noble mind.
Many, perhaps, compelled to rank among the vile as
sassins, do from their inmost souls detest the barbar
ous action. The winged death, shot from your arms,
may chance to pierce some breast that bleeds already
for your injured country.

The storm subsides — a solemn pause ensues — you
spare — upon condition they depart. They go — they
quit your city — they no more shall give offence. Thus
closes the important drama.

And could it have been conceived that we again
should have seen a British army in our land, sent to
enforce obedience to acts of Parliament destructive
of our liberty? But the royal ear, far distant from
this western world, has been assaulted by the tongue
of slander; and villains, traitorous alike to king and
country, have prevailed upon a gracious prince to
clothe his countenance with wrath and to erect the
hostile banner against a people ever affectionate and
loyal to him and his illustrious predecessors of the
House of Hanover.

Our streets are again filled with armed men; our
harbor is crowded with ships of war ; but these cannot
intimidate us; our liberty must be preserved; it is
far dearer than life — we hold it even dear as our
allegiance; we must defend it against the attacks of
friends as well as enemies; we cannot suffer even
Britons to ravish it from us.

No longer could we reflect, with generous pride, on
the heroic actions of our American forefathers; no
longer boast our origin from that far-famed island
whose warlike sons have so often drawn their well-

WARREN. 227

tried swords to save her from the ravages of tyranny;
could we, but for a moment, entertain the thought of
giving up our liberty. The man who meanly will sub
mit to wear a shackle contemns the noblest gift of
heaven and impiously affronts the God that made him
free.

It was a maxim of the Roman people, which emi
nently conduced to the greatness of that state, never
to despair of the commonwealth. The maxim may
prove as salutary to us now as it did to them. Short
sighted mortals see not the numerous links of small
and great events which form the chain on which the
fate of kings and nations is suspended. Ease and
prosperity, though pleasing for a day, have often
sunk a people into effeminacy and sloth. Hardships
and dangers, though we forever strive to shun them,
have frequently called forth such virtues as have com
manded the applause and reverence of an admiring
world= Our country loudly calls you to be circum
spect, vigilant, active, and brave.

Perhaps (all gracious heaven avert it), perhaps
the power of Britain, a nation great in war, by some
malignant influence may be employed to enslave you ;
but let not even this discourage you. Her arms, 'tis
true, have filled the world with terror ; her troops have
reaped the laurels of the field; her fleets have rode
triumphant on the sea; and when or where did you,
my countrymen, depart inglorious from the field of
fight? You, too, can show the trophies of your fore
fathers' victories and your own; can name the for
tresses and battles you have won; and many of you

228 WARREN.

count the honorable scars of wounds received whilst
fighting for your king and country.

Where justice is the standard, heaven is the war
rior's shield: but conscious guilt unnerves the arm
that lifts the sword against the innocent. Britain,
united with these colonies by commerce and affection,
by interest and blood, may mock the threats of France
and Spain; may be the seat of universal empire. But
should America, either by force or those more dan
gerous engines, luxury and corruption, ever be
brought into a state of vassalage, Britain must lose
her freedom also. No longer shall she sit the
empress of the sea; her ships no more shall waft her
thunders over the wide ocean; the wreath shall
•wither on her temples; her weakened arm shall be
unable to defend her coasts; and she at last must bow
her venerable head to some proud foreigner's despotic
rule.

But if, from past events, we may venture to form
a judgment of the future, we justly may expect that
the devices of our enemies will but increase the
triumphs of our country. I must indulge a hope that
Britain's liberty, as well as ours, will eventually be
preserved by the virtue of America.

The attempt of the British Parliament to raise a
revenue from America, and our denial of their right
to do it, have excited an almost universal inquiry into
the right of mankind in general, and of British sub
jects in particular; the necessary result of which must
be such a liberality of sentiment and such a jealousy
of those in power as will, better than an adamantine

WARREN. 229

wall, secure us against the future approaches of des
potism.

The malice of the Boston port-bill has been de
feated, in a very considerable degree, by giving you
an opportunity of deserving, and our brethren in this
and our sister colonies an opportunity of bestowing
those benefactions which have delighted your friends
and astonished your enemies, not only in America,
but in Europe also. And what is more valuable still,
the sympathetic feelings for a brother in distress, and
the grateful emotions excited in the breast of him
who finds relief, must forever endear each to the
other and form those indissoluble bonds of friendship
and affection on which the preservation of our rights
so evidently depend.

The mutilation of our charter has made every other
colony jealous for its own; for this, if once submitted
to by us, would set on float the property and govern
ment of every British settlement upon the continent.
If charters are not deemed sacred, how miserably pre
carious is everything founded upon them !

Even the sending troops to put these acts in execu
tion is not without advantage to us. The exactness
and beauty of their discipline inspire our youth with
ardor in the pursuit of military knowledge. Charles
the Invincible taught Peter the Great the art of war.
The battle of Pultowa convinced Charles of the pro
ficiency Peter had made.

Our country is in danger, but not to be despaired
of. Our enemies are numerous and powerful ; but we
have many friends determining to be free, and heaven
and earth will aid the resolution. On you depend the

230 WARREN.

fortunes of America. You are to decide the impor
tant question on which rest the happiness and liberty
of millions yet unborn. ' Act worthy of yourselves.
The faltering tongue of hoary age calls on you to
support your country. The lisping infant raises its
suppliant hands imploring defence against the mon
ster slavery. Your fathers look from their celestial
seats with smiling approbation on their sons, who
boldly stand forth in the cause of virtue; but sternly
frown upon the inhuman miscreant who, to secure the
loaves and fishes to himself, would breed a serpent
to destroy his children.

But, pardon me, my fellow citizens, I know you
want not zeal or fortitude. You will maintain your
rights or perish in the generous struggle. However
difficult the combat, you never will decline it when
freedom is the prize. An independence of Great
Britain is not our aim. No, our wish is that Britain
and the colonies may, like the oak and ivy, grow and
increase in strength together. But whilst the in
fatuated plan of making one part of the empire slaves
to the other is persisted in, the interests and safety
of Britain, as well as the colonies, require that the
wise measures recommended by the honorable the
Continental Congress be steadily pursued; whereby
the unnatural contest between a parent honored and
a child beloved may probably be brought to such an
issue as that the peace and happiness of both may be
established upon a lasting basis. But if these pacific
measures are ineffectual, and it appears that the only
way to safety is through fields of blood, I know you
will not turn your faces from your foes, but will,

WARREN. 231

undauntedly, press forward until tyranny is trodden
under foot, and you have fixed your adored goddess,
Liberty, fast by a Brunswick's side, on the American
throne.

You then, who have nobly espoused your country's
cause; who generously have sacrificed wealth and
ease; who have despised the pomp and show of tin
selled greatness; refused the summons to the festive
board; been deaf to the alluring calls of luxury and
mirth; who have forsaken the downy pillow to keep
your vigils by the midnight lamp for the salvation of
your invaded country, that you might break the
fowler's snare and disappoint the vulture of his prey —
you then will reap that harvest of renown which you
so justly have deserved. Your country shall pay her
grateful tribute of applause. Even the children of
your most inveterate enemies, ashamed to tell from
whom they sprang, while they, in secret, curse their
stupid, cruel parents, shall join the general voice of
gratitude to those who broke the fetters which their
fathers forged.

Having redeemed your country, and secured the
blessing to future generations, who, fired by your
example, shall emulate your virtues and learn from
you the heavenly art of making millions happy; with
heartfelt joy, with transports all your own, you cry,
the glorious work is done; then drop the mantle to
some young Elisha, and take your seats with kindred
spirits in your native skies !

232 JEFFERSON.

Jefferson, Thomas, a distinguished statesman, third
President of the United States, born at Shadwell, Va.,
April 2, 1743 ; died at Monticello, Va., July 4, 1826. He
-was admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-four, and began
public life as a member of the House of Burgesses in
1769. He was a zealous actor in the events preluding the
American Revolution, and as one of the committee of five
appointed to draw up the Declaration of Independence, was
in the main the author of that famous paper. In 1779,
Jefferson was chosen governor of Virginia ; in 1.784 he was
sent to France with Franklin and Deane, as joint plenipo
tentiary, and returning in 1789 was appointed Washington's
secretary of state. He was Vice-President during the admin
istration of John Adams, and succeeding him as President,
held office for two terms. Of all his many state papers, the
Declaration is destined to endure the longest. Like all of
Jefferson's writing, it is grandiose at times, but like them,
too, it is clear, forceful, and perfectly adapted to serve the
immediate purposes for which it was composed,

DEMOCRACY DEFINED.

FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS, DELIVERED MARCH 4, l8oi.

Friends and Fellow-Citizens :

CALLED upon to undertake the duties of the first
executive office of our country, I avail myself of the
presence of that portion of my fellow-citizens which
is here assembled, to express my grateful thanks for
the favor which they have been pleased to look to
ward me, to declare a sincere consciousness that the
task is above my talents, and that I approach it with
those anxious and awful presentiments which the

JEFFERSON. 233

greatness of the charge and the weakness of my pow
ers so justly inspire. A rising nation spread over a
wide and fruitful land, traversing all the seas with
the rich productions of their industry, engaged in com
merce with nations who feel power and forget right,
advancing rapidly to destinies beyond the reach of
mortal eye; when I contemplate these transcendent
objects, and see the hour, the happiness, and the hopes
of this beloved country committed to the issue and the
auspices of this day, I shrink from the contemplation,
and humble myself before the magnitude of the under
taking. Utterly, indeed, should I despair, did not the
presence of many whom I here see remind me that in
the other high authorities provided by our Constitution
I shall find resources of wisdom, of virtue and of zeal
on which to rely under all difficulties. To you, then,
gentlemen, who are charged with the sovereign func
tions of legislation, and to those associated with you,
I look with encouragement for that guidance and sup
port which may enable us to steer with safety the ves
sel in which we are all embarked, amid the conflict-
iiag elements of a troubled world.

During the contest of opinion through which we
have passed, the animation of discussions and of ex
ertions has sometimes worn an aspect which might im
pose on strangers unused to think freely and to speak
and to write what they think; but this being now de
cided by the voice of the nation, announced accord
ing to the rules of the Constitution, all will, of course,
arrange themselves under the will of the law, and
unite in common efforts for the common good. All,
too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that

234 JEFFERSON.

though the will of the majority is in all cases to pre
vail, that will, to be rightful, must be reasonable ; that
the minority possess their equal rights, which equal
law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.
Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart and
one mind ; let us restore to social intercourse that har
mony and affection without which liberty, and even
life itself, are but dreary things. And let us reflect,
that, having banished from our land that religious in
tolerance under which mankind so long bled and suf
fered, we have yet gained little, if we countenance a
political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, and capa
ble of as bitter and bloody persecutions. During the
throes and convulsions of the ancient world, during the
agonizing spasms of infuriated man, seeking through
blood and slaughter his long-lost liberty, it \vas not
wonderful that the agitation of the billows should
reach even this distant and peaceful shore; that this
should be more felt and feared by some and less by
others; and should divide opinions as to measures of
safety; but every difference of opinion is not a differ
ence of principle. We have called by different names
brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans :
we are all Federalists. If there be any among us who
would wish to dissolve this Union, or to change its
republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monu
ments of the safety with which error of opinion may be
tolerated, where reason is left free to combat it. I
know, indeed, that some honest men fear that a re
publican government cannot be strong; that this gov
ernment is not strong enough. But would the honest
patriot, in the full tide of successful experiment,

.

JEFFERSON. 235

abandon a government which has so far kept us free
and firm, on the theoretic and visionary fear that this
government, the world's best hope, may, by possibility,
want energy to preserve itself ? I trust not. I believe
this, on the contrary, the strongest government on
earth. I believe it the only one where every man, at
the call of the law, would fly to the standard of
the law, and would meet invasions of the public order
as his own personal concern. Sometimes it is said
that man cannot be trusted with the government of
himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of
others? Or have we found angels in the form of
kings to govern him? Let history answer this ques
tion.

Let us, then, with courage and confidence, pursue
our own federal and republican principles ; our attach
ment to union and representative government. Kind
ly separated by nature and a wide ocean from the ex
terminating havoc of one quarter of the globe; too
high-minded to endure the degradations of the others ;
possessing a chosen country, with room enough for
our descendants to the hundredth and thousandth gen
eration ; entertaining a due sense of our equal right to
the use of our own faculties, to the acquisitions of our
own industry, to honor and confidence from our fellow
citizens, resulting not from birth, but from our ac
tions and their sense of them; enlightened by a be
nign religion, professed indeed, and practiced in vari
ous forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth,
temperance, gratitude, and the love of man, acknowl
edging and adoring an overruling Providence, which,
by all its dispensations, proves that it delights in the

236 JEFFERSON.

happiness of man here and his greater happiness here
after ; with all these blessings, what more is necessary
to make us a happy and a prosperous people? Still
one thing more, fellow-citizens — a wise and frugal
government, which shall restrain men from injuring
one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regu
late their own pursuits of industry and improvement,
and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread
it has earned. This is the sum of good government;
and this is necessary to close the circle of our felici
ties.

About to enter, fellow-citizens, on the exercise of
duties which comprehend everything dear and valuable
to you, it is proper you should understand what I deem
the essential principles of our government, and con
sequently those which ought to shape its administra
tion. I will compress them within the narrowest com
pass they will bear, stating the general principle, but
not all its limitations. Equal and exact justice to all
men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or po
litical; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with
all nations, entangling alliances with none; the sup
port of the State governments in all their rights, as the
most competent administrations for our domestic con
cerns, and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican
tendencies; the preservation of the general govern
ment in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet-
anchor of our peace at horrie and safety abroad; a
jealous care of the right of election by the people; a
mild and safe corrective of abuses which are lopped
fay the sword of revolution, where peaceable remedies
.are unprovided ; absolute acquiescence in the decisions

JEFFERSON. 237

of the majority, the vital principle of republics, from
which is no appeal, but to force the vital principle
and immediate parent of despotism; a well-disciplin
ed militia, our best reliance in peace and for the first
moments of war, till regulars may relieve them; the
supremacy of the civil over the military authority;
economy in the public expense, that labor may be
lightly burdened; the honest payment of our debts,
and sacred preservation of the public faith; encour
agement of agriculture, and of commerce as its hand
maid ; the diffusion of information and arraignment of
all abuses at the bar of the public reason ; freedom of
religion, freedom of the press, and freedom of person,
nuder the protection of the Habeas Corpus ; and trial
by juries impartially selected. These principles form
the bright constellation which has gone before us, and
guided our steps through an age of revolution and
reformation. The wisdom of our sages and blood of
our heroes have been devoted to their attainment;
they should be the creed of our political faith : the text
of civic instruction ; the touchstone by which to try the
services of those we trust ; and should wre wander from
them in moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten
to retrace our steps and to regain the road which
alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety.

I repair then, fellowT-citizens, to the post you have
assigned me. With experience enough in subordinate
offices to have seen the difficulties of this, the greatest
of all, I have learned to expect that it will rarely fall
to the lot of imperfect man to retire from this station
with the reputation and the favor which bring him
into it. Without pretensions to that high confidence

238 JEFFERSON.

you reposed in our first and greatest revolutionary
character, whose pre-eminent services had entitled
him to the first place in his country's love, and des
tined for him the fairest page in the volume of faith
ful history, I ask so much confidence only as may
give firmness and effect to the legal administration of
your affairs. I shall often go wrong through defect
of judgment. When right, I shall often be thought
wrong by those whose positions will not command a
view of the whole ground. I ask your indulgence for
my own errors, which will never be intentional; and
your support against the errors of others, who may
condemn what they would not, if seen in all its parts.
The approbation implied by your suffrage is a great
consolation to me for the past; and my future solici
tude will be to retain the good opinion of those who
have bestowed it in advance, to conciliate that of
others by doing them all the good in my power, and
to be instrumental to the happiness and freedom of
all.

Relying, then, on the patronage of your goodwill, I
advance with obedience to the work, ready to retire
from it whenever you become sensible how much
better choices it is in your power to make. And may
that Infinite Power which rules the destinies of the
universe lead our councils to what is best, and give
them a favorable issue for your peace and prosperity.

QUINCY. 239

Quincy, Josiah, (sometimes styled Josiah Quincy, Jr.),
an American patriot and orator, born in Boston, Mass.,
Jan., 23, 1744, died there, April 26, 1775. He was a Boston,
lawyer who was associated with John Adams in defending
the English soldiers concerned in " The Boston Massacre,"
but he attended the town meeting which ordered the " Bos
ton tea-party," and in September, 1774, went to England to
speak in behalf of the colonists. His style as an orator is
rather intense and grandiose, but it has the dignity of entire
sincerity. His " Observations on the Boston Port Bill, with
Thoughts on Civil Society and Standing Armies," had not
a little to do with shaping contemporary thought.

SPEECH IN DEFENCE OF THE SOLDIERS.

[Delivered at the trial of William Weems, James Hartigan, and
others, soldiers in his Majesty's Twenty-Ninth Regiment, for the
murder of Crispus Attucks, Samuel Gray, and others, on Monday
evening, the 5th of March, 1770.]

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR HONORS,, AND You GENTLE
MEN OF THE JURY, — We have at length gone through
the evidence in behalf of the prisoners. The wit
nesses have now placed before you that state of facts
from which results our defence. The examination
has been so lengthy that I am afraid some gainful
sensations arise when you find that you are now to
sit and hear the remarks of counsel. But you should
reflect that no more indulgence is shown to the prison
ers now on trial than has ever been shown in all cap
ital causes : the trial of one man has often taken up
several days ; when you consider, therefore, that there
are eight lives in issue, the importance of the trial will

.240 QUINCY.

show the necessity of its length. To each of the
prisoners different evidence applies, and each of them
draw their defence from different quarters.

I stated to you, gentlemen, your duty in opening
this cause — do not forget the discharge of it. You
are paying a debt you owe the community for your
own protection and safety : by the same mode of trial
are your own rights to receive a determination; and
in your turn a time may come when you will expect
arid claim a similar return from some other jury of
your fellow subjects.

In opening I pointed out the dangers to which you
were exposed; I trust your own recollection will now
preclude a recapitulation of them. The reasons of
what I then said, I trust have in some measure ap
peared; the propriety of some of those observations
has been corroborated by succeeding evidence; and
you must have traced yourselves some of those conse
quences, turning out in evidence, which have had inti
mate relation, if not their origin, with some or all of
those opinions, notions, sentiments, or passions (call
them what you will) which I took occasion to observe
as clues, aids, and leading-strings in our intended ex
amination and decision.

How much need was there for my desire that you
should suspend your judgment till the witnesses were
all examined? How different is the complexion of
the cause? Will not all this serve to show every
honest man the little truth to be attained in partial
hearings ? We have often seen communities complain
of ex parte testimonies ; individuals as well as societies
of men are equally susceptible of injuries of this kind.

QUINCY. 241

This trial ought to have another effect ; it should serve
to convince us all of the impropriety, nay, injustice,
of giving a latitude in conversation upon topics likely
to come under a judicial decision; the criminality of
this conduct is certainly enhanced when such loose
sallies and discourses are so prevalent as to be likely
to touch the life of a citizen; moreover, there is so
little certainty to be obtained by such kind 01 methods,
I wonder we so often find them practised. In the
present case, how great was the prepossession against
us? And I appeal to you, gentlemen, what cause
there now is to alter our sentiments ? Will any sober,
prudent man countenance the proceedings of the
people in King Street, — can any one justify their con
duct, — is there any one man or any body of men who
are interested to espouse and support their conduct?

Surely, no! But our inquiry must be confined to
the legality of their conduct, and here can be no diffi
culty. It was certainly illegal, unless many witnesses
are directly perjured: witnesses, who have no appa
rent interest to falsify, — witnesses who have given
their testimony with candor and accuracy, — witnesses
whose credibility stands untouched, — whose credibil
ity the counsel for the king do not pretend to impeach
or hint a suggestion to their disadvantage.

I say, gentlemen, by the standard of the law are we
to judge the actions of the people who were the as
sailants and those who w^ere the assailed and then on
duty. And here, gentlemen, the rule we formerly
laid down takes place. To the facts, gentlemen, apply
yourselves. Consider them as testified; weigh the
credibility of the witnesses — balance their testimony

242 QUINCY.

— compare the several parts of it — see the amount of
it; and then, according to your oath, " make true de
liverance according to your evidence." That is, gen
tlemen, having settled the facts, bring them truly to
the standard of the law; the king's judges, who are
acquainted with it, who are presumed best to know
it, will then inspect this great standard of right and
wrong, truth and justice; and they are to determine
the degree of guilt to which the fact rises.

But before we come to those divisions of inquiry
tinder which I intend to consider the evidence, let me
once more carefully distinguish between the trans
actions in Cornhill and those by the custom-house.

The conduct of the soldiers in Cornhill may well
be supposed to have exasperated the minds of all who
beheld their behavior. Their actions accumulated
guilt as it flew — at least, we may well suppose, the
incensed people who related them added new colors
to the scene. The flame of resentment imperceptibly
•enkindles, and a common acquaintance with human
nature will show that it is no extravagant supposition
to imagine many a moderate man might at such a
season, with such sentiments, which I have more than
once noticed, — hearing such relations and complaints;
I say, do I injure any one, in supposing that under all
these circumstances a very moderate person who in
ordinary matters acted with singular discretion should
now be drawn imperceptibly away, or rather trans
ported into measures which in a future moment he
would condemn and lament ? What more natural sup
position than to suppose many an honest mind might
at this time fluctuate thus?

QUINCY. 243

The soldiers are here — we wish them away; we
did not send for them; they have cut and wounded
the peaceable inhabitants, and it may be my turn next.
At this instant of time he has a fresh detail of in
juries : resentment redoubles every successive moment
- — huzza! for the main guard! we are in a moment
before the custom-house. No time is given for
reflection.

We find from the king's evidence and from our
own the cry was, " Here is a soldier ! " — not, " Here
is the soldier who has injured us " ; " Here is the fel
low who wounded the man in Cornhill." No, the rea
soning, or rather ferment, seems to be, " The soldiers
have committed an outrage " — " We have an equal
right to inflict punishment — or rather revenge — which
they had to make an assault." They said " right," but
never considered that those soldiers had no right at
all. These are sentiments natural enough to persons
in this state of mind : we can easily suppose even good
men thinking and acting thus. Very similar to this is
the force of Dr. Hiron's testimony and some others
But our inquiry is, What says the law? We must
calmly inquire whether this, or anything like it, is
countenanced by the law. What is natural to the man
— what are his feelings are one thing: what is the
duty of the citizen is quite another. Reason must
restime her seat, and then we shall hear and obey the
voice of the law.

The law indulges no man in being his own avenger.
Early in the history of jurisprudence we find the
sword taken from the party injured and put into the
hands of the magistrate. Were not this the case, pun-

244 QUINCY.

ishment would know no bounds in extent or duration.
Besides, it saps the very root of distributive justice
when any individual invades the prerogative of law
and snatches from the civil magistrate the balance and
the rod. How much more are the pillars of security
shaken, when a mixed body, assembled as those in
King Street, assume the province of justice and in
vade the rights of the citizen? For it must not be
forgot that the soldier is a citizen, equally entitled
with us all to protection and security. Hence all are
alike obliged to pay obedience to the law; for the
price of this protection is that of obedience.

Let it not be apprehended that I am advancing a
doctrine that a soldier may attack an inhabitant and he
not allowed to defend himself. No, gentlemen, if a
soldier rush violently through the street and presents
a weapon of death in a striking posture, no doubt the
person assailed may defend himself even to taking
the life of the assailant. Revenge and a sense of
self-preservation instantly take possession of the per
son thus attacked; and the law goes not upon the ab
surd supposition that a person can in these circum
stances unman himself. Hence we find a husband,
taking his wife in the act of adultery, instantly seizes
a deadly weapon and slays the adulterer. It is not
murder. Nay, a fillip upon the nose or forehead, in
anger, is supposed by the law to be sufficient provoca
tion to reduce killing to manslaughter. It is therefore
upon principles like these — principles upon which
those who now bear the hardest against us at other
times so much depend ; it is, I say, upon the right of

QUINCV. 245

self-defence and self-preservation we rely for our ac
quittal.

Here again it should be kept in view that whenever
a party injuring has escaped by flight, and time suf
ficient for the passions to cool, in judgment of law,
hath elapsed, however great the injury, the injured
party must have recourse to law for his redress. Such
is the wisdom of the law ; of that law, than which we
are none of us to presume ourselves wiser; of that
law which is found in the experience of ages, and
which in condescension to the infirmities *of flesh and
blood (but to nothing else) extenuates the offence.

For " no man," says the learned Judge Foster,
" under the protection of the law is to be the avenger
of his own wrongs. If they are of sucrua nature for
which the laws of society will give him an adequate
remedy, thither he ought to resort. But be they of
what nature soever, he ought to bear his lot with pa
tience and remember that vengeance belongeth to the
Most High."

Now, gentlemen, those, whoever they were, who
committed the outrage in Cornhill, had absconded;
the soldiers, who are supposed to have done them,
were confined in their barracks. People were re
peatedly told this and assured by the military officers
that they should not go unpunished. But what fol
lowed ? Are all present appeased ? We are constrain
ed by the force of the evidence to affirm they were not.
But to get regular and right ideas we must consider
all the commotions of the season and endeavor to
come at the truth by analyzing the evidence and ar
ranging it under distinct heads of inquiry.

246 QUINCY.

[After a further consideration of the evidence in
the case Mr. Quincy remarked :]

May it please your honors and you gentlemen of
the jury : After having thus gone through the evi
dence and considered it as applicatory to all and every
of the prisoners, the next matter in order seems to
be the consideration of the law pertinent upon this
evidence.

And here, gentlemen, let me again inform you that
the law which is to pass upon these prisoners is a law
adapting itself to the human species with all their
feelings, passions, and infirmities : a law which does
not go upon the absurd supposition that men are stocks
and stones, or that in the fervor of the blood a man
can act with the deliberation and judgment of a phil
osopher. No, gentlemen; the law supposes that a
principle of resentment, for wise and obvious reasons,
is deeply implanted in the human heart, and not to be
eradicated by the efforts of State policy. It therefore
in some degree conforms itself to all the workings of
the passions, to which it pays a great indulgence, so
far as not to be wholly incompatible with the wisdom,
good order, and the very being of government.

Keeping, therefore, this full in view, let us take
once more a very brief and cursory survey of mat
ters supported by the evidence. And here let me ask
sober reason, What language more opprobrious, what
actions more exasperating, than those used on this
occasion? Words, I am sensible, are no justification
of blows, but they serve as the grand clues to discover
the temper and the designs of the agents; they serve

QUINCY. 247

also to give us light in discerning the apprehensions
and thoughts of those who are the objects of abuse.

" You lobster [" — " You bloody-back ! "— " You
coward ! " " You dastard ! " are but some of the
expressions proved. What words more galling?
What more cutting and provoking to a soldier ? To be
reminded of the color of his garb, by which he was
distinguished from the rest of his fellow citizens; to
be compared to the most despicable animal that crawls
upon the earth, was touching indeed a tender point.
To be stigmatized with having smarted under the
lash at the halbert, to be twitted with so infamous an
ignominy, which was either wholly undeserved or a
grievance which would never have been repeated, —
I say to call up and awaken sensations of this kind
must sting even to madness. But accouple these
words with the succeeding actions, — " You dastard I"
" You coward ! " A soldier and a coward !

This was touching (with a witness) "the point of
honor and the pride of virtue." But while these are
as yet fomenting the passions and swelling the bosom,
the attack is made ; and probably the latter words were
reiterated at the onset; at least, were yet sounding in
the ear. Gentlemen of the jury, for heaven's sake
let us put ourselves in the same situation ! Would you
not spurn at that spiritless institution of society which
tells you to be a subject at the expense of your man
hood?

But does the soldier step out of his ranks to seek
his revenge ? Not a witness pretends it. Did not the
people repeatedly come within the points of their

248 QUINCY.

bayonets and strike on the muzzles of the guns ? You
have heard the witnesses.

Does the law allow one member of the community
to behave in this manner towards his fellow citizen,
and then bid the injured party be calm and moderate?
The expressions from one party were — " Stand off,
stand off!" "I am upon my station," — "if they
molest me upon my post, I will fire." " By God, I
will fire!" "Keep off!"

These words were likely to produce reflection and
procure peace. But had the words on the other hand
a similar tendency? Consider the temper prevalent
among all parties at this time. Consider the then
situation of the soldiery; and come to the heat and
pressure of the action. The materials are laid, the
spark is raised, the fire enkindles, the flame rages,
the understanding is in wild disorder, all prudence and
true wisdom are utterly consumed. Does common
sense, does the law expect impossibilities?

Here, to expect equanimity of temper, would be as
irrational as to expect discretion in a madman. But
was anything done on the part of the assailants sim
ilar to the conduct, warnings, and declarations of the
prisoners? Answer for yourselves, gentlemen! The
words reiterated all around stabbed to the heart; the
actions of the assailants tended to a worse end, — to
awaken every passion of which the human breast is
susceptible; fear, anger, pride, resentment, revenge,
alternately take possession of the whole man.

To expect, under these circumstances, that such
words would assuage the tempest, that such actions
would allay the flames; — you might as rationally ex-

QUINCY. 249

pect the inundations of a torrent would suppress a
deluge; or rather that the flames of Aetna would ex
tinguish a conflagration ! •

Prepare, gentlemen of the jury, now to attend to
that species of law which will adapt itself to this trial
with all its singular and aggravating circumstances.
A law full of benignity, full of compassion, replete
with mercy.

And here, gentlemen, I must, agreeable to the
method we formerly adopted, first tell you by what
faw the prisoners are not to be tried or condemned.
And they most certainly are not to be tried by the
Mosaic law : a law, we take it, peculiarly designed for
the government of a peculiar nation, who being in a
great measure under a theocratical form of govern
ment, its institutions cannot, with any propriety, be
adduced for our regulation in these days.

It is with pain, therefore, I have observed any en
deavor to mislead our judgment on this occasion; by
drawing our attention to the precepts delivered in the
days of Moses, and by disconnected passages of Scrip
tures applied in a manner foreign to their original
design or import, there seems to have been an at
tempt to touch some peculiar sentiments which we
know are thought to be prevalent : and in this way,
we take it, an injury is likely to be done, by giving the
mind a bias, it ought never to have received; because
it is not warranted by our laws.

We have heard it publicly said of late, oftener than
formerly, " Whosoever sheddeth man's blood, by man
shall has blood be shed." This is plainly, gentlemen,
a general rule which, like all others of the kind, must

250 QUINCY.

have its exceptions, — a rule which if taken in its
strict literal latitude would imply that a man killing
another in self-defence would incur the pains of
death; a doctrine which no man in his senses would
ever embrace; a doctrine that certainly never pre
vailed under the Mosaical institution. For we find
the Jews had their six cities of refuge to which the
manslayer might flee from the avenger of blood; and
something analogous to this (if it did not originate
from it) is our benefit of clergy.

And so, that " the murderer shall flee to the pit,"
comes under the same consideration. And when we
hear it asked, as it very lately has been, " Who dare
stay him ? " I answer, if the laws of our country stay
him, you ought to do likewise; and every good subject
dares to do what the law allows. But the very posi
tion is begging the question; for the question now in
issue is, whether either of the prisoners is a murderer
in the sense of our laws ? for you recollect that what is
murder and what not is a question of law arising upon
facts stated and allowed.

But to go on : " You shall take no satisfaction for
the life of a murderer which is guilty of death." Here
again is a begging of the question ; and moreover the
words " guilty of death," if rightly rendered from the
original, must be one of those general rules I just
now mentioned, which always have their exceptions.
But these words seem to be wrongly translated; for
in the margin of our great Bible we find them ren-
'dered " faulty to die." Against a position of this kind
we have no objection. If we have committed a fault
on which our laws inflict punishment of death we

QUINCY. 251

must suffer. But what fault we have committed you
are to inquire: or rather you, gentlemen, are to find
the facts proved in court against us, and the judges
are to see and consider what the law pronounces
touching our offence and what punishment is thereby
inflicted as a penalty.

In order to come at the whole law resulting from
the facts which have been proved we must inquire
into the legality of the assemblies. For such is the
wisdom and policy of the law that if any assembly
be lawful each individual of that assembly is answer
able only for his own act and not for any other. On
the contrary, if an assembly be unlawful, the act of
any one of the company to the particular purpose of
assembling is chargeable on all. This is law which
no lawyer will dispute : it is a law founded in the
security of the peace of society, and, however little
considered by people in general, it ought now steadily
to be kept in mind.

Was the assembly of the soldiers lawful?

For what did the soldiers assemble?

Was the sentinel insulted and attacked?

Did he call for assistance, and did the party go to
assist him?

Was it lawful for them so to do?

Were the soldiers, when thus lawfully assembled,
assaulted, etc., by a great number of people assem
bled, etc.?

Was this last assembly lawful?

Was anything done by this unlawful assembly that
will in law justify, excuse, or extenuate the offence
of killing, so as to reduce it to manslaughter?

2$2 QUINCY.

Was the killing justifiable; or rather was it justifi
able self-defence?

Was the killing excusable; or rather was it self-
defence, culpable, but, through the benignity of the
law, excusable?

Was the killing felonious : if felonious, was it with
or without malice?

[Under each of these heads of inquiry, in their
order, Mr. Ouincy arranged his arguments : and as
he separated and compared and settled the facts, he
applied the law with explanatory comments. After
which, he concluded his argument as follows:]

May it please your honors, and you, gentlemen of
the jury : I have now gone through those authorities
in law which I thought pertinent to this trial. I have
been thus lengthy, not for the information of the
court, but to satisfy you gentlemen, and all who may
chance to hear me, of that law which is well known
to those of us who are conversant in courts, but not
so generally known or attended to by many as it
ought to be — a law which extends to each of us as
well as to any of the prisoners; for it knows no dis
tinction of persons.

And the doctrines which have been thus laid down
are for the safeguard of us all, — doctrines which are
founded in the wisdom and policy of ages ; which the
greatest men who ever lived have adopted and con
tended for. Nay, the matter has been carried by very
wise men much further than we have contested for.
And that you may not think the purport of the au
thorities read are the rigid notions of a dry system and
the contracted decisions of municipal law, I beg leave

QUINCY. 253

to read to you a passage from a very great theoretic
writer — a man whose praises have resounded through
all the known world, and probably will through all
ages — whose sentiments are as free air, and who has
done as much for learning, liberty, and mankind as
any of the sons of Adam — I mean the sagacious Mr.
Locke. He will tell you gentlemen, in his Essay on
Government, " that all manner of force without right
puts man in a state of war with the aggressor; and
of consequence, that being in such a state of war, he
may lave fully kill him who put him under this unnat
ural restraint." According to this doctrine we should
have nothing to do but inquire whether here was "force
without right;" if so, we were in such a state as
rendered it lawful to kill the aggressor who put us
under so unnatural a restraint.

Few, I believe, will say, after hearing all this evi
dence, that we were under no " unnatural restraint."
But we don't want to extend matters so far. We cite
this author to show the world that the greatest friends
to their country, to universal liberty, and the immut
able rights of all men, have held tenets and advanced
maxims more favorable to the prisoners at the bar.
And although we should not adopt the sentiments of
Mr. Locke in their most extensive latitude, yet there
seems to be something very analogous to his opinion
which is countenanced in our laws.

There is a spirit which pervades the whole system
of English jurisprudence, which inspires a freedom of
thought, speech, and behavior. Under a form of gov
ernment like ours, it would be in vain to expect that
pacific, timid, obsequious, and servile temper, so pre-

254 QUINCY.

dominant in more despotic governments. From our
happy constitution there results its very natural ef
fects — an impatience of injuries and a strong resent
ment of insults (and a very wise man has said, " He
who tamely beareth insults inviteth injuries").
Hence, I take it, that attention to the " feelings of hu
manity," to " humanity and imperfection," " the in
firmities of flesh and blood ;" that attention to " the in
delible rights of mankind ;" that lenity to " the pas
sions of men ;" that " benignity and condescension of
the law," so often repeated in our books.

And, indeed, if this were not the case, the genius
of our civil constitution and the spirit of our municipal
law would be repugnant: that prime defect in* any po
litical system — that grand solecism in State policy.

Gentlemen of the jury: This case has taken up
much of your time, and it is likely to take up so much
more that I must hasten to a close. Indeed, I should
not have troubled you, by being thus lengthy, but from
a sense of duty to the prisoners; they who in some
sense may be said to have put their lives in my hands ;
they whose situation was so peculiar that we have ne
cessarily taken up more time than ordinary cases re
quire. They, under all these circumstances, placed a
confidence it was my duty not to disappoint, and
which I have aimed at discharging with fidelity. I
trust you, gentlemen, will do the like; that you will
examine and judge with a becoming temper of mind ;
remembering that they who are under oath to de
clare the whole truth think and act very differently
from bystanders, who, being under no ties of this

QUINCY. 255

kind, take a latitude which is by no means admissible
in a court of law.

I cannot close this cause better than by desiring you
to consider well the genius and spirit of the law which
will be laid down, and to govern yourselves by this
great standard of truth. To some purposes, you may
be said, gentlemen, to be ministers of justice; and
" ministers," says a learned judge, " appointed for
the ends of public justice, should have written on
their hearts the solemn engagements of his Majesty,
at his coronation, to cause law and justice in mercy
to be executed in all his judgments."

" The quality of mercy is not strained ;
It droppeth like the gentle rain from heaven.

It is twice blessed ;
It blesses him that gives, and him that takes."

I leave you, gentlemen, hoping you will be directed
in your inquiry and judgment to a right discharge of
your duty. We shall all of us, gentlemen, have an
hour of cool reflection when the feelings and agita
tions of the day shall have subsided; when we shall
view things through a different and a much juster
medium. It is then we all wish an absolving con
science. May you, gentlemen, now act such a part as
will hereafter ensure it; such a part as may occasion
the prisoners to rejoice. May the blessing of those
who were in jeopardy of life come upon you — may the
blessing of Him who is " not faulty to die " descend
and rest upon you and your posterity.

256 JAY.

Jay, John, a noted American patriot, born in New
York City, Dec. 12, 1745 ; died at Bedford, N. Y., May 17,
1829. He was conspicuous in the political events of the
Revolutionary period, and contributed powerfully by his pen
toward the achievement of national independence, as well as
to the organization of the new government. He was asso
ciated with Hamilton and Madison in the writing of The
Federalist, and he negotiated what is known as Jay's Treaty
with England, in 1794. He was appointed by Washington
in 1789 the first Chief Justice of the United States. He was
governor of New York, 1795-1801, and under his auspices
slavery was forever abolished in that State in 1799. Jav was
an eloquent writer and speaker, the most celebrated of his
many important State papers being the " Address to the
People of Great Britain," in 1774.

ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF GREAT
BRITAIN.

[Congress, an October n, 1774, appointed Mr. Lee, Mr. Living
ston and Mr. Jay a committee to prepare a memorial to the people
of British America, and an address to the people of Great Britain.
On the 1 8th, Mr. Jay reported a draught of the address, which was
discussed and amended on the day following, and on the 2ist was
approved by Congress.]

FRIENDS AND FELLOW SUBJECTS, — When a nation
led to greatness by the hand of liberty, and possessed
of all the glory that heroism, munificence, and human
ity can bestow, descends to the ungrateful task of
forging chains for her friends and children, and, in
stead of giving support to freedom, turns advocate for
slavery and oppression, there is reason to suspect she

JAY. 257

has either ceased to be virtuous or been extremely
negligent in the appointment of her rulers.

In almost every age, in repeated conflicts in long
and bloody wars, as well civil as foreign, against many
and powerful nations, against the open assaults of
enemies, and the more dangerous treachery of friends,
have the inhabitants of your island, your great and
glorious ancestors, maintained their independence and
transmitted the rights of men and the blessings of lib
erty to you, their posterity.

Be not surprised, therefore, that we who are de
scended from the same common ancestors, that we
whose forefathers participated in 'all the rights, the
liberties, and the constitution you so justly boast of,
and who have carefully conveyed the same fair in
heritance to us, guaranteed by the plighted faith of
government and the most solemn compacts with Brit
ish sovereigns, should refuse to surrender them to
men who found their claims on no principles of rea
son, and who prosecute them with a design that, by
having our lives and property in their power, they
may, with the greatest facility, enslave you.

The cause of America is now the object of universal
attention; it has at length become very serious. This
unhappy country has not only been oppressed, but
abused and misrepresented; and the duty we owe to
ourselves and posterity, to your interest, and the gen
eral welfare of the British empire, leads us to address
you on this very important subject.

Know, then, that we consider ourselves, and do in
sist, that we are and ought to be as free as our fellow
subjects in Britain, and that no power on earth has a

258 JAY.

right to take our property from us without our con
sent.

That we claim all the benefits secured to the sub
ject by the English constitution, and particularly that
inestimable one of trial by jury.

That we hold it essential to English liberty that no
man be condemned unheard, or punished for supposed
offences without having an opportunity of making
his defence.

That we think the legislature of Great Britain is
not authorized by the constitution to establish a re
ligion fraught with sanguinary and impious tenets, or
to erect an arbitrary form of government in any quar
ter of the globe. These rights we, as well as you,
deem sacred; and yet, sacred as they are, they have,
with many others, been repeatedly and flagrantly vio
lated.

Are not the proprietors of the soil of Great Britain
lords of their own property? Can it be taken from
them without their consent? Will they yield it to the
arbitrary disposal of any man or number of men what
ever? You know they will not.

Why, then, are the proprietors of the soil of
'America less lords of their property than you are of
yours ? or why should they submit it to the disposal of
your Parliament, or any other parliament or council
in the world not of their election ? Can the interven
tion of the sea that divides us cause disparity in rights,
or can any reason be given why English subjects who
live three thousand miles from the royal palace
should enjoy less liberty than those who are three
hundred miles distant from it?

JAY. 259-

Reason looks with indignation on such distinctions,
and freemen can never perceive their propriety. And
yet, however chimerical and unjust such discrimina
tions are, the Parliament assert that they have a right
to bind us in all cases, without exception, whether we
consent or not; that they may take and use our prop
erty when and in what manner they please; that we
are pensioners on their bounty for all that we possess,
and can hold it no longer than they vouchsafe to per
mit. Such declarations we consider as heresies in
English politics, and which can no more operate to
deprive us of our property than the interdicts of the
Pope can divest kings of sceptres which the laws of
the land and the voice of the people have placed in their
hands.

At the conclusion of the late war, — a war rendered
glorious by the abilities and integrity of a minister
to whose efforts the British empire owes its safety and
its fame ; at the conclusion of this war, which was suc
ceeded by an inglorious peace, formed under the aus
pices of a minister of principles and of a family un
friendly to the Protestant cause and inimical to lib
erty — we say at this period, and under the influence
of that man, a plan for enslaving your fellow subjects
in America was concerted, and has ever since been
pertinaciously carrying into execution.

Prior to this era you were content with drawing
from us the wealth produced by our commerce : you
restrained your trade in every way that could con
duce to your emolument. You exercised unbounded
sovereignty over the sea. You named the ports and

nations to which alone our merchandise should be
/ 9—1

260 JAY.

carried, and with whom alone we should trade; and
though some of these restrictions were grievous, we
nevertheless did not complain. We looked up to you
as to our parent state, to which we were bound by the
strongest ties, and were happy in being instrumental
to your prosperity and your grandeur.

We call upon you, yourselves, to witness our loyalty
and attachment to the common interest of the whole
empire. Did we not, in the last war, add all the
strength of this vast continent to the force which re
pelled our common enemy? Did we not leave our
native shores and meet disease and death to promote
the success of British arms in foreign climates? Did
you not thank us for our zeal, and even reimburse us
large sums of money which you confessed we had ad
vanced beyond our proportion and far beyond our
abilities? You did.

To what causes, then, are we to attribute the sud
den change of treatment and that system of slavery
which was prepared for us at the restoration of peace ?

Before we had recovered from the distresses which
ever attend war, an attempt was made to drain this
country of all its money by the oppressive Stamp Act.
Paint, glass, and other commodities which you would
not permit us to purchase of other nations were taxed ;
nay, although no wine is made in any country subject
to the British state, you prohibited our procuring it of
foreigners without paying a tax, imposed by your
Parliament, on all we imported. These and many
other impositions were laid upon us, most unjustly
and unconstitutionally, for the express purpose of
raising a revenue. In order to silence complaint it

JAY. 26l

was indeed provided that this revenue should be ex
pended in America for its protection and defence.

These exactions, however, can receive no justifi
cation from a pretended necessity of protecting and
defending us. They are lavishly squandered on court
favorites and ministerial dependents, generally avowed
enemies to America, and employing themselves by
partial representations to traduce and embroil the
colonies.

For the necessary support of government here, we
ever were and ever shall be ready to provide. And
whenever the exigencies of the state may require it,
we shall, as we have heretofore done, cheerfully con
tribute our full proportion of men and money.

To enforce this unconstitutional and unjust scheme
of taxation, every fence that the wisdom of our Brit
ish ancestors had carefully erected against arbitrary
power has been violently thrown down in America,
and the inestimable right of trial by jury taken away
in cases that touch both life and property. It was or
dained that whenever offences should be committed
in the colonies against particular acts imposing various
duties and restrictions upon trade, the prosecutor
might bring his action for the penalties in the courts
of admiralty, by which means the subject lost the ad
vantage of being tried by an honest, uninfluenced
jury of he vicinage, and was subjected to the sad ne
cessity of being judged by a single man, a creature of
the crown, and according to the course of a law which
exempts the prosecutor from the trouble of proving"
his accusation and obliges the defendant either to
evince his innocence or to suffer.

262 JAY.

To give this new judicatory the greater importance,
and as if with design to protect false accusers, it is
further provided that the judge's certificate of there
having been probable causes of seizure and prosecu
tion shall protect the prosecutor from actions at com
mon law for recovery of damages.

By the course of our law, offences committed in
such of the British dominions in which courts are es
tablished and justice duly and regularly administered
shall be there tried by a jury of the vicinage. There
the offenders and the witnesses are known, and the
degree of credibility to be given to their testimony
can be ascertained.

In all these colonies justice is regularly and im
partially administered; and yet, by the construction
of some, and the direction of other acts of Parliament,
offenders are to be taken by force, together with all
such persons as may be pointed out as witnesses, and
carried to England, there to be tried in a distant land
by a jury of strangers and subject to all the disad
vantages that result from the want of friends, want of
witnesses, and want of money.

When the design of raising a revenue from the
duties imposed on the importation of tea into America
had in great measure been rendered abortive by our
ceasing to import that commodity, a scheme was con
certed by the ministry with the East India Company,
and an act passed enabling and encouraging them to
transport and vend it in the colonies. Aware of the
danger of giving success to this insidious manoeuvre,
and of permitting a precedent of taxation thus to be

JAY. 263

established among us, various methods were adopted
to elude the stroke.

The people of Boston, then ruled by a governor
whom, as well as his predecessor, Sir Francis Ber
nard, all America considers as her enemy, were ex
ceedingly embarrassed. The ships which had arrived
with the tea were, by his management, prevented
from returning. The duties would have been paid;
the cargoes landed and exposed to sale; a governor's
influence would have procured and protected many
purchasers.

While the town was suspended by deliberations on
this important subject the tea was destroyed. Even
supposing a trespass was thereby committed, and the
proprietors of the tea entitled to damages, the courts
of law were open, and judges appointed by the crown-
presided in them. The East India Company, how
ever, did not think proper to commence any suits, nor
did they even demand satisfaction, either from indi
viduals or from the community in general. The min
istry, it seems, officiously made the case their own,
and the great council of the nation descended to inter
meddle with a dispute about private property. Divers
papers, letters, and o/ther unauthenticated ex parte
evidence, were laid before them. Neither the persons
who destroyed the tea, nor the people of Boston, were
called upon to answer the complaint.

The ministry, incensed by being disappointed in a
favorite scheme, were determined to recur from the
little arts of finesse to open force and unmanly vio
lence. The port of Boston was blocked up by a fleet,
and an army placed in the town. Their trade was to

264 JAY,

be suspended, and thousands reduced to the necessity
of gaining subsistence from charity, till they should
submit to pass under the yoke and consent to become
slaves, by confessing the omnipotence of Parliament,
and acquiescing in whatever disposition they might
think proper to make of their lives and property.

Let justice and humanity cease to be the boast of
your nation! Consult your history; examine your
records of former transactions ; nay, turn to the annals
of the many arbitrary states and kingdoms that sur
round you, and show us a single instance of 'men be
ing condemned to suffer for imputed crimes, unheard,
unquestioned, and without even the specious formality
of a trial; and that, too, by laws made expressly for
the purpose and which had no existence at the time
of the fact committed.

If it be difficult to reconcile these proceedings to the .
genius and temper of your laws and constitution, the
task will become more arduous wrhen we call upon our
ministerial enemies to justify, not only condemning
men untried and by hearsay, but involving the inno
cent in one common punishment with the guilty, and
for the act of thirty or forty to bring poverty, distress,
and calamity on thirty thousand souls, and those not
your enemies, but your friends, brethren, and fellow
subjects.

It would be some consolation to us if the catalogue
of American oppressions ended here. It gives us
pain to be reduced to the necessity of reminding you
that under the confidence reposed in the faith of gov
ernment, pledged in a royal charter from a British
sovereign, the forefathers of the present inhabitants

J. C. CALHOUN.

JAY. 265

of the Massachusetts Bay left their former habita
tions and established that great, flourishing, and loyal
colony.

Without incurring or being charged with a for
feiture of their rights, without being heard, without
being tried, without law and without justice, by an
act of Parliament their charter is destroyed, their
liberties violated, their constitution and form of gov
ernment changed ; and all this upon no better pretence
than because in one of their towns a trespass was com
mitted on some merchandise said to belong to one of
the companies, and because the ministry were of
opinion that such high political regulations were nec
essary to compel due subordination and obedience to
their mandates.

Nor are these the only capital grievances under
which we labor. We might tell of dissolute, weak,
and wicked governors having been set over us; of
legislatures being suspended for asserting the rights
of British subjects; of needy and ignorant dependents
on great men advanced to the seats of justice and to
other places of trust and importance; of hard restric
tions on commerce, and a great variety of lesser evils
the recollection of which is almost lost under the
weight and pressure of greater and more poignant
calamities.

Now mark the progression of the ministerial plan
for enslaving us.

Well aware that such hardy attempts to take our
property from us ; to deprive us of that valuable right
of trial by jury; to seize our persons, and carry us for
trial to Great Britain ; to blockade our ports ; to destroy

266 JAY.

our charters and change our forms of government, —
would occasion, and had already occasioned, great
discontent in the colonies, which might produce op
position to these measures, an act was passed to pro
tect, indemnify, and screen from punishment such as
might be guilty even of murder in endeavoring to
carry their oppressive edicts into execution; and by
another act the dominion of Canada is to be so ex
tended, modelled, and governed as that, by being dis
united from us, detached from our interests, by civil
as well as religipus prejudices; that by their numbers
daily swelling with Catholic emigrants from Europe,
and by their devotion to an administration so friendly
to their religion, they might become formidable to us,
and on occasion be fit instruments, in the hands of
power, to reduce the ancient free Protestant colonies
to the same state of slavery with themselves.

This was evidently the object of the act; and in
this view, being extremely dangerous to our liberty
and quiet, we cannot forbear complaining of it as hos
tile to British America. Superadded to these consid
erations we cannot help deploring the unhappy con
dition to which it has reduced the many English
settlers who, encouraged by the royal proclamation
promising the enjoyment of all their rights, have pur
chased estates in that country. They are now the
subjects of an arbitrary government, deprived of trial
by jury, and, when imprisoned, cannot claim the ben
efit of the habeas corpus act — that great bulwark and
palladium of English liberty. Nor can we suppress
our astonishment that a British Parliament should
<ever consent to establish in that country a religion that

JAY. 267

has deluged your island in blood and dispersed im
piety, bigotry, persecution, murder, and rebellion
through every part of the world.

This being a true state of facts, let us beseech you
to consider to what end they may lead.

Admit that the ministry, by the powers of Britain
and the aid of our Roman Catholic neighbors, should
be able to carry the point of taxation and reduce us to
a state of perfect humiliation and slavery: such an
enterprise would doubtless make some addition to
your national debt, which already presses down your
liberties and fills you with pensioners and placemen.
We presume, also, that your commerce will somewhat
be diminished. However, suppose you should prove
victorious, in what condition will you then be ? What
advantages or laurels will you reap from such a con
quest ?

May not a ministry with the same armies enslave
you? It may be said you will cease to pay them — but
remember the taxes from America, the wealth and
we may add, the men, and particularly the Roman
Catholics of this vast continent, will then be in the
power of your enemies; nor will you have any reason
to expect that after making slaves of us many among
us should refuse to assist in reducing you to the same
abject state.

Do not treat this as chimerical. Know that in less
than half a century the quitrents reserved to the crown
from the numberless grants of this vast continent will
pour large streams of wealth into the royal coffers,
and if to this be added the power of taxing America
at pleasure, the crown will be rendered independent

268 JAY.

of you for supplies, and will possess more treasure
than may be necessary to purchase the remains of lib
erty in your island. In a word, take care that you do
not fall into the pit that is preparing- for us.

We believe there is yet much virtue, much justice,
and much public spirit in the English nation. To that
justice we now appeal. You have been told that we
are seditious, impatient of government, and desirous
of independency. Be assured that these are not facts,
but calumnies. Permit us to be as free as yourselves,
and we shall ever esteem a union with you to be our
greatest glory and our greatest happiness; we shall
ever be ready to contribute all in our power to the
welfare of the empire ; we shall consider your enemies
as our enemies and your interest as our own.

But if you are determined that your ministers shall
wantonly sport with the rights of mankind; if neither
the voice of justice, the dictates of the law, the prin
ciples of the constitution, or the suggestions of hu
manity, can restrain your hands from shedding human
blood in such an impious cause, we must then tell you
that we will never submit to be hewers of wood or
drawers of water for any ministry or nation in the
world.

Place us in the same situation that we were in at
the close of the last war, and our former harmony
will be restored.

But lest the same supineness, and the same inatten
tion to our common interest, which you have for sev
eral years shown, should continue, we think it prudent
to anticipate the consequences.

By the destruction of the trade of Boston the min-

JAY. 269

istry have endeavored to induce submission to their
measures. The like fate may befall us all. We will
endeavor, therefore, to live without trade, and recur
for subsistence to the fertility and bounty of our na
tive soil, w7hich will afford us all the necessaries and
some of the conveniences of life. We have suspended
our importation from Great Britain and Ireland; and,
in less than a year's time, unless our grievances should
be redressed, shall discontinue our exports to those
kingdoms and the West Indies.

It is with the utmost regret, however, that we find
ourselves compelled, by the overruling principles of
self-preservation, to adopt measures detrimental in
their consequences, to numbers of our fellow subjects
in Great Britain and Ireland. But we hope that the
magnanimity and justice of the British nation will
furnish a Parliament of such wisdom, independence,
and public spirit as may save the violated rights of
the whole empire from the devices of wicked minis
ters and evil counsellors, whether in or out of office;
and thereby restore that harmony, friendship, and
fraternal affection between all the inhabitants of his
Majesty's kingdoms and territories so ardently wished
for by every true and honest American.

2/0 ' LIVINGSTON.

Livingston, Robert, R., a famous American jurist and
orator, born in New York City, Nov. 27, 1746; died at
Chantilly, New York, Feb. 26, 1813. He was a prosperous
lawyer in his native city at the outbreak of the American
Revolution, but lost his office as recorder on account of his
patriotic opinions. He was a member of the Continental
Congress, and as the first chancellor of the State of New
York administered the oath of office to Washington at his
inauguration in 1789. While minister to France, 1801-04,
he aided in securing Louisiana to the Union, and he was on
most friendly terms with Bonaparte. He was interested in
Fulton's early experiments with steam navigation, and as an
advocate of agricultural interests, was one of the first to
introduce merino sheep-raising into the United States.

ORATION BEFORE THE CINCINNATI

DELIVERED AT THE CITY HALL, NEW YORK, JULY

4, 1787-

I COULD have wished, gentlemen, that the task I am
now about to perform had been assigned to some
abler speaker ; and in that view I long since tendered
my apology for declining it and hoped till lately that
it had been accepted. Disappointed in this hope, and
unwilling to treat any mark of your favor with neg
lect, I determined to obey your commands, although
I was satisfied that in the execution of them I should
not answer your expectations. There is a style of
eloquence adapted to occasions of this kind, to which
I feel myself unequal ; a style which requires the glow
ing imagination of younger speakers, who, coming
recently from the schools of rhetoric, know how to

LIVINGSTON. 271

dress their sentiments in all its flowery ornaments.
The turbulence of the times since I first entered upon
public life, and the necessity they imposed upon those
who engaged in them of attending rather to things
than words, will, I fear, render me, if not a useless,
at least an unpolished speaker.

If the mind dwells with pleasure on interesting
events; if the soul pants to emulate the noble deeds
it contemplates; if virtue derives new force from the
successful struggles of the virtuous, it is wise to set
apart certain seasons when, freed from meaner cares,
we commemorate events which have contributed to
the happiness of mankind or afford examples worthy
their imitation. What are we this day called upon to
commemorate? Some signal victory in which the
victor weeps the loss of friends and humanity mourns
over the graves of the vanquished ? The birth of some
prince whom force, fraud, or accident has entitled to
a throne? Or even that of some patriot who has
raised the reputation and defended the rights of his
country? No, gentleman, a nobler subject than the
splendor of victories or the birth of princes demands
our attention. We are called upon to commemorate
the successful battles of freedom and the birth of na
tions.

It may be expected, and indeed I believe it is usual
on such occasions, that I should tread the steps we
have taken from the dawn of oppression to the bright
sunshine of independence; that I should celebrate the
praise of patriots who have been actors in the glori
ous scene; and more particularly that I should lead
you to the shrines of those that have offered up their

2/2 LIVINGSTON.

lives in support of their principles and sealed with
their blood your charters of freedom.

Had I no other object in view than to amuse you
and indulge my own feelings I should take this path.
For what task more delightful than to contemplate the
successful struggles of virtue ; to see it at one moment
panting under the grasp of oppression and rising in
the next with renewed strength; as if, like the giant
son of earth, she had acquired vigor from the fall ; to
see hope and disappointment, plenty and want, defeats
and victories, following each other in rapid succes
sion, and contributing, like light and shade, to the em
bellishment of the piece !

What more soothing to the soft and delicate emo
tions of humanity than to wander with folded arms
and slow and pensive step amidst the graves of de
parted heroes, to indulge the mingled emotions of
grief and admiration; at one moment giving way to
private sorrow and lamenting the loss of a friend, a
relation, a brother; in the next glowing with patriot
warmth, gazing with ardor on their wounds and in
voking their spirits while we ask of heaven to inspire "
us with equal fortitude! But, however pleasing this
task, the desire of being useful impels me, at this in
teresting moment, to forego this pleasure; to call you
from this tender scene; to remind you that you are
the citizens of a free state; to bid you rejoice with
Roman pride that those you love have done their
duty; to exhort you to crown the glorious work they
have begun ; for, alas ! my friends, though they have
nobly performed the part assigned them, the work is
still unfinished and much remains for us to do. It

LIVINGSTON. 273

may not, therefore, be improper, amidst the congratu
lations I make you on this day — this day, distinguished
in the annals of fame for the triumph of freedom and
the birth of nations — to inquire how far it has been
productive of the advantages we might reasonably
have expected, and where they have fallen short of
our expectations.

To investigate the causes that have conduced to our
disappointment; two objects demand our attention, —
our internal and federal governments : either, to those
who are disposed to view only the gloomy side of the
picture, will afford sufficient matter for censure and
too much cause of uneasiness. Many desponding
spirits, misled by their reflections, have ceased to re
joice in independence and to doubt whether it is to be
considered as a blessing. God forbid that there
should be any such among us. For whatever may be
the pressure of our present evils, they will cease to
operate when we resolve to remove them ; the remedy
is within our reach, and I have sufficient confidence in
our fortitude to hope that it will be applied.

Let those, however, who know not the value of our
present situation contrast it with the state of servitude
to which we should have been reduced had we pa
tiently submitted to the yoke of Britain. She had long
since seen our case with envy and our strength with
jealousy. Loaded with debt, she wished to share that
affluence which she attributed to her protection rather
than to our industry. Tenacious of her supposed su
premacy, she could not be indifferent to those increas
ing numbers which threatened its subversion. Avarice
and timidity concurred in framing a system of despot-

2/4 LIVINGSTON.

ism which, but for our resistance, would have reduced
us to the vilest subjection. Having resisted, accom
modation was vain; pretences would not have been
wanting to ruin those that had been active in oppos
ition. Disputes among ourselves would have been
encouraged, and advantages derived from our dis
union would have enabled her ultimately to attain her
object. No alternative was left but independence or
abject submission. We have chosen as became a wise
and generous people. Let slaves or cowards disap
prove the choice.

Our constitutions are formed to insure the happi
ness of a virtuous nation. They guard against the tu
mult and confusion of unwieldy popular assemblies,
while they yielded to every citizen his due share of
power. They preserve the administration of justice
pure and unbiassed, by the independence of the
judges. They prevent abuses in the execution of the
laws by committing the care of enforcing them to
magistrates who have no share in making nor voice in
expounding them.

In these circumstances they excel the boasted
models of Greece or Rome, and those of all other
nations, in having precisely marked out the power of
the government and the rights of the people. With
us the law is written : no party can justify their errors
under former abuses or doubtful precedents. With
these constitutions, I shall be asked how it has hap
pened that the evils hinted at continue to exist. I
shall endeavor to answer this inquiry, since my object
in treating of this subject is to impress upon you the
obligations we are under as citizens, as men whose

LIVINGSTON. 2/5

«

past services entitle us to some weight in the com
munity, zealously to unite in promoting a constitu
tional reform of every abuse that affects the govern
ment.

Our constitutions being purely democratic, the
people are sovereign and absolute. The faults of ab
solute governments are to be charged to the sov
ereign: in ours they must be traced back to the
people.

If our executive has sufficient energy, if the judicial
is competent to the administration of justice, if our
legislative is so formed as that no law can pass without
due deliberation, all the ends of government are an
swered so far as they depend upon the constitution.
If still it falls short of expectation, the evils must be
sought in the administration: and since every person
concerned in that is either mediately or immediately
chosen by the people they may change it at pleasure.

What can be devised more perfect than that consti
tution which puts in the power of those who experi
ence the effects of a maladministration to prevent
their continuance; not by mad, tumultuous, and ir
regular acts, as in the ancient republics, but by such
as are cool, deliberate, and constitutional? If they
still exist, they must be charged to the negligence of
the people, who, after violent agitation, have sunk into
such a state of torpor and indifference with respect to
government as to be careless into what hands they
trust their dearest rights.

When we choose an agent to manage our private
affairs, an executor to distribute our estate, we are
solicitous about the integrity and ability of those we

LIVINGSTON.

entrust : we consult our friends : we make the choice
after due deliberation.- Is it not astonishing that
when we are to elect men whose power extends to our
liberty, our property, and our lives we should be so
totally indifferent that not one in t»en of us tenders his
vote ?

Can it be thought that an enlightened people be
lieve the science of government level to the meanest
capacity — that experience, application, and education
are unnecessary to those who are to frame laws for
the government of the state? And yet, are instances
wanting in which these have been proscribed and their
place supplied by those insidious arts which have ren
dered them suspected ? Are past services the passport
to future honors? Or have you yourselves, gentle
men, escaped the general obloquy? Are you not cal
umniated by those you deem unworthy of your so
ciety? Are you not even shunned by some who
should wear with pride and pleasure this badge of
former services?

You have learned in the school of adversity to ap
preciate characters. You are not formed, whoever
may direct, to promote measures you disapprove.
Men used to command and to obey are sensible of the
value of government and will not consent to its de
basement. Your services entitle you to the respect
and favor of a grateful people. Envy and the am
bition of the unworthy concur to rob you of the rank
you merit.

To these causes we owe the cloud that obscures our
internal governments. But let us not despair : the
sun of science is beginning to rise ; and, as new light

LIVINGSTON. 277

breaks in upon the minds of our fellow citizens, that
cloud will be dispelled.

Having observed that our internal constitutions are
adequate to the purposes for which they were formed,
and that the inconveniences we have some time felt
ttnder them were imputable to causes which it was
in our power to remove, I might perhaps add mat the
continuance of those evils is a proof of the happiness
these governments impart; since, had they not been
more than balanced by advantages, they would have
pressed with such weight as to have compelled the
people to apply the remedy the constitution affords.

But when I turn my eyes to the other great object
of a patriot's attention, our federal government, I con
fess to you, my friends, I sicken at the sight. Noth
ing presents itself to -my view but a nerveless council,
united by imaginary ties, brooding over ideal decrees
which caprice or fancy is at pleasure to annul or exe
cute ! I see trade languish; public credit expire; and
that glory which is not less necessary to the prosperity
of a nation than reputation to individuals a victim to
opprobium and disgrace.

Here, my friends, you are particularly interested;
for I believe I should do little justice to the motives
that induced you to brave the dangers and hardships
of a ten years' war if I supposed you had nothing
more in view than humble peace and ignominious ob
scurity. Brave souls are influenced by nobler mo
tives; and I persuade myself that the rank and glory
of the nation you have established were among the
strongest that nerved your arms and invigorated your
hearts. Let us not, then, my friends,, lose sight of this

278 LIVINGSTON.

splendid object; having pursued it through fields of
blood let us not relinquish the chase when nothing is
necessary to its attainment but union, firmness, and
temperate deliberation.

In times of extreme danger, whoever has the cour
age to seize the helm may command the ship : each
mariner, distrusting his own skill, is ready to repose
upon that of others. Congress, not attending to this
reflection, were misled by the implicit respect that,
during the war, was paid to their recommendations;
and, without looking forward to times when the cir
cumstances which made the basis of their authority
should no longer exist, they formed a constitution only
adapted to such circumstances. Weak in itself, a va
riety of causes have conspired to render it weaker.

Some States have totally neglected their represen
tation in Congress; while some others have been
inattentive, in their choice of delegates, to those qual
ities which are essential to the support of its reputa
tion: objects of some moment where authority is
founded on opinion only. To these I am sorry,
gentlemen, to add a third, which operates with pe
culiar force in some States : the love of power, of
which the least worthy are always the most tenacious.
To deal out a portion of it to Congress would be to
share that which some among those who are elected
by popular favor already find too little for their own
ambition. To preserve it, rulers of free States prac
tise a lesson they have received from eastern tyrants;
and as these, to preserve the succession, put out the
eyes of all that may approach the seat of power, so

LIVINGSTON. 279

those strive to blind the people, whose discernment,
they fear, may expel them from it.

I will not wear your patience and my own by con
tending with those chimeras they have raised to fright
the people from remedying the only real defect of
this government. Nor will I dwell upon that wretched
system of policy which has sunk the interest and repu
tation of such States in the great council of America,
and drawn upon them the hatred and contempt of their
neighbors. Who will deny that the most serious evils
daily flow from the debility of our federal constitu
tion? Who but owns that we are at this moment col
onies, for every purpose but that of internal taxation,
to the nation from which we vainly hoped our sword
had freed us?

Who but sees with indignation British ministers
Uaily dictating laws for the destruction of our com
merce? Who but laments the ruin of that brave,
hardy, and generous race of men who are necessary
for its support ? Who but feels that we are degraded
from the rank we ought to hold among the nations of
the earth, — despised by some, maltreated by others,
and • unable to defend ourselves against the cruel
depredations of the most contemptible pirates? At
this moment — yes, great God! at this moment — some
among those, perhaps, who have labored for the estab
lishment of our freedom, are groaning in barbarian
bondage. ' Hands that may have wielded the s\vcrd in
our defence are loaded with chains. Toilsome tasks,
gloomy prisons, whips and tortures, are the portion
of men who have triumphed with us and exulted in

280 LIVINGSTON.

the idea of giving being to nations and freedom to un
numbered generations!

These, sirs, these are a few of the many evils that
result from the want of a federal government. Our
internal1 constitutions may make us happy at home, but
nothing short of a federal one can render us safe or
respectable abroad. Let us not, however, in our
eagerness to attain one, forget to preserve the other
inviolate; for better is distress abroad than tyranny
and anarchy at home. A precious deposit is given into
our keeping : we hold in our hands the fate of future
generations. While we acknowledge that no govern
ment can exist without confidence in the governing
power, let us also remember that none can remain
free where that confidence is incautiously bestowed.

How, gentlemen, shall I apologize for having ob
truded this serious address upon the gayeties of this
happy day ? I told you, and told you truly, that I was
ill qualified to play the holiday orator; and I might
have added that the joy of this day is ever attended,
in my mind, with a thousand mingled emotions. Re
flection on the past brings to memory a variety of ten
der and interesting events; while hope and fear,
anxiety and pleasure, alternately possess me when I
endeavor to pierce the veil of futurity. But never,
never before have they pressed upon me with the
weight they do at present.

I feel that some change is necessary; and yet I
dread lest the demon of jealousy should prevent such
change; or the restless spirit of innovation should
carry us beyond what is necessary. I look round for
aid ; I see in you a band of patriots — the supporters of

LIVINGSTON. 28l

your country's rights : I feel myself indebted to you
for the freedom we enjoy : I know that your emotions
cannot be different from my own; and I strive, by
giving you the same views on these important subjects,
to unite your efforts in the common cause. Let us,
then, preserve pure and perfect those principles of
friendship for each other, of love for our country, of
respect for the Union, which supported us in our past
difficulties. Let us reject the trammels of party, and,
as far as our efforts will go, call every man to the post
his virtues and abilities entitle him to occupy.

Let us watch with vigilant attention over the con-
duct of those in power; but let us not with coward
caution restrain their efforts to be useful; and let us
implore that omnipotent Being who gave us strength
and wisdom in the hour of danger to direct our great
council to that happy mean which may afford us re
spect and security abroad and peace, liberty, and pros
perity at home.

282 MADISON.

Madison, James, a distinguished American statesman,,
fourth President of the United States, born at Port Con-
way, Va., March 16, 1751 ; died at Montpelier, Va., June 28,
1836. He sympathized heartily with the popular discontent
preceding the American Revolution, and was elected a mem
ber of the Virginia Convention in 1776, and of the Council
of State the next year. He also served in Congress, 1780-
84, and was one of the delegates to the Constitutional Con
vention of 1789, his notes of the proceedings .on that occa
sion forming our most trustworthy account of what took
place. With Jay and Hamilton he was associated in writing
The Federalist. He was President of the United States for
two terms, 1809-17, the second war with England occurring
during his presidency. After the close of his second term
he lived in retirement. His state papers, which are dignified
in style, are very numerous, and have been published in six
volumes.

ON THE EXPEDIENCY OF ADOPTING THE
FEDERAL CONSTITUTION

CONVENTION OF VIRGINIA, JUNE 6, 1788

Mr. Chairman :

IN WHAT I am about to offer to this assembly, I
shall not attempt to make impressions by any ardent
professions of zeal for the public welfare. We know
that the principles of every man will be, and ought to
be, judged not by his professions and declarations,
but by his conduct. By this criterion, I wish, in com
mon with every other member, to be judged ; and even
though it should prove unfavorable to my reputation,
yet it is a criterion from which I by no means would

MADISON. 283

depart, nor could if I would. Comparisons have been
made between the friends of this Constitution and
those who oppose it. Although I disapprove of such
comparisons, I trust that in everything that regards
truth, honor, candor, and rectitude of motives, the
friends of this system, here and in other States, are
not inferior to its opponents. But professions of at
tachment to the public good, and comparisons of par
ties, at all times invidious, ought not to govern or in
fluence us now. We ought, sir, to examine the Con
stitution exclusively on its own merits. We ought to
inquire whether it will promote the public happiness;
and its aptitude to produce that desirable object ought
to be the exclusive subject of our researches. In
this pursuit, we ought to address our arguments not
to the feelings and passions, but to those understand
ings and judgments which have been selected, by the
people of this country, to decide that great question
by a calm and rational investigation. I hope that gen
tlemen, in displaying their abilities on this occasion,
will, instead of giving opinions and making assertions,
condescend to prove and demonstrate, by fair and
regular discussion. It gives me pain to hear gentle
men continually distorting the natural construction of
language. Assuredly, it is sufficient if any human
production can stand a fair discussion. Before I pro
ceed to make some additions to the reasons which have
been adduced by my honorable friend over the way,
I take the liberty to make some observations on what
was said by another gentleman (Mr. Henry). He
told us that this Constitution ought to be rejected, be
cause, in his opinion, it endangered the public liberty

284 MADISON.

in many instances. Give me leave to make one an
swer to that observation — let the dangers with which
this system is supposed to be replete, be clearly'pointed
out. If any dangerous and unnecessary powers be
given to the general legislature, let them be plainly
demonstrated, and let us not rest satisfied with gen
eral assertions of dangers, without proof, without ex
amination. If powers be necessary, apparent danger
is not a sufficient reason against conceding them. He
has suggested that licentiousness has seldom produced
the loss of liberty; but that tyranny of rulers has al
most always effected it. Since the general civiliza
tion of mankind, I believe there are more instances
of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by
gradual and silent encroachments of those in power,
than by violent and sudden usurpations ; but on a can
did examination of history, we shall find that tur
bulence, violence, and abuse of power, by the majority
trampling on the rights of the minority, have pro
duced factions and commotions which, in republics,
have, more frequently than any other cause, produced
despotism. If we go over the whole history of an
cient and modern republics, we shall find their de
struction to have generally resulted from those causes.
If we consider the peculiar situation of the United
States, and go to the sources of that diversity of senti
ment which pervades its inhabitants, we shall find
great danger to fear that the same causes may termi
nate here in the same fatal effects which they pro
duced in those republics. This danger ought to be
wisely guarded against. In the progress of this
discussion it will, perhaps, appear, that the only possi-

MADISON. 285

ble remedy for those evils, and the only certain means
of preserving and protecting the principles of repub
licanism, will be found in that very system which is
now exclaimed against as the parent of oppression.
I must confess that I have not been able to find his
usual consistency in the gentleman's arguments on
this occasion. He informs us that the people of this
country are at perfect repose; that every man enjoys
the fruits of labor peaceably and securely, and that
everything is in perfect tranquillity and safety. I
wish sincerely, sir, this were true. But if this be
really their situation, why has every State acknowl
edged the contrary? Why were deputies from all
the States sent to the general convention ? Why have
complaints of national and individual distresses been
echoed and re-echoed throughout the continent? Why
has our general government been so shamefully dis
graced, and our Constitution violated? Wherefore
have laws been made to authorize a change, and
wherefore are we now assembled here? A federal
government is formed for the protection of its indi
vidual members. Ours was itself attacked with im
punity. Its authority has been boldly disobeyed and
openly despised. I think I perceive a glaring incon
sistency in another of his arguments. He complains
of this Constitution, because it requires the consent of
at least three-fourths of the States to introduce
amendments which shall be necessary for the happi
ness of the people. The assent of so many, he con
siders as too great an obstacle to the admission of
salutary amendments, which he strongly insists ought
to be at the will of a bare majority, and we hear this

286 MADISON.

argument at the very moment we are called upon to
assign reasons for proposing a Constitution which puts
it in the power of nine States to abolish the present
inadequate, unsafe, and pernicious confederation ! In
the first case, he asserts that a majority ought to have
the power of altering the government, when found to
be inadequate to the security of public happiness. In
the last case, he affirms that even three- fourths of the
community have not a right to alter a government
which experience has proved to be subversive of na
tional felicity ; nay, that the most necessary and urgent
alterations cannot be made without the absolute una
nimity of all the States. Does not the thirteenth ar
ticle of the confederation expressly require that
no alteration shall be made without the unani
mous consent of all the States? Can anything
in theory be more perniciously improvident and
injudicious than this submission of the will of
the majority of the most trifling minority? Have
not experience and practice actually manifested
this theoretical inconvenience to be extremely impol
itic ? Let me mention one fact, which I conceive must
carry conviction to the mind of any one — the smallest
State in the Union has obstructed every attempt to
reform this government; that little member has re
peatedly disobeyed and counteracted the general au
thority; nay, has even supplied the enemies of its
country with provisions. Twelve States had agreed
to certain improvements which were proposed, being
thought absolutely necessary to preserve the existence
of the general government; but as these improve
ments, though really indispensable, could not, by the

MADISON. 287

confederation, be introduced into it without the con
sent of every State, the refractory dissent of that lit
tle State prevented their adoption. The inconven
iences resulting from this requisition of unanimous
concurrence in alterations of the confederation, must
be known to every member in this convention; it is
therefore needless to remind them of them. Is it
not self-evident, that a trifling minority ought not to
bind the majority? Would not foreign influence be
•exerted with facility over a small minority? Would
the honorable gentleman agree to continue the most
radical defects in the old system, because the petty
State of Rhode Island would not agree to remove
them ?

He next objects to the exclusive legislation over the
district where the seat of the government may be
fixed. Would he submit that the representatives of
this State should carry on their deliberations under .
the control of any one member of the Union? If
any State had the power of legislation over the place
where Congress should fix the general government,
it would impair the dignity and hazard the safety
of Congress. If the safety of the Union were under
the control of any particular State, would not foreign
corruption probably prevail in such a State, to induce
it to exert its controlling influence over the members
of the general government ? Gentlemen cannot have
forgotten the disgraceful insult which Congress re
ceived some years ago. And, sir, when we also re
flect, that the previous cession of particular States is
necessary before Congress can legislate exclusively)

288 MADISON.

anywhere, we must, instead of being alarmed at this
part, heartily approve of it.

But the honorable member sees great danger in the
provision concerning the militia. Now, sir, this I
conceive to be an additional security to our liberties,
without diminishing the power of the States in any
considerable degree; it appears to me so highly ex
pedient, that I should imagine it would have
found advocates even in the warmest friends of the
present system. The authority of training the militia
and appointing the officers is reserved to the States.
But Congress ought to have the power of establishing
a uniform system of discipline throughout the States ;
and to provide for the execution of the laws, suppress
insurrections, and repel invasions. These are the
only cases wherein they can interfere with the militia ;
and the obvious necessity of their having power over
them in these cases must flash conviction on any re
flecting mind. Without uniformity of discipline,
military bodies would be incapable of action; without
a general controlling power to call forth the strength
of the Union, for the purpose of repelling invasions,
the country might be overrun and conquered by for
eign enemies. Without such a power to suppress in
surrections, our liberties might be destroyed by intes
tine faction, and domestic tyranny be established. . . .

Give me -leave to say something of the nature of
the government, and to show that it is perfectly safe
and just to vest it with the power of taxation. There
are a number of opinions; but the principal question
is, whether it be a federal or a consolidated govern
ment. In order to judge properly of the question be-

MADISON. 289

fore us, we must consider it minutely, in its principal
parts. I myself conceive that it is of a mixed nature ;
it is, in a manner, unprecedented. We cannot find
one express prototype in the experience of the world:
it stands by itself. In some respects it is a govern
ment of a federal nature; in others, it is of a con
solidated nature. Even if we attend to the manner
in which the Constitution is investigated, ratified, and
made the act of the people of America, I can say, not
withstanding what the honorable gentleman has al
leged, that this government is not completely con
solidated; nor is it entirely federal. Who are' the
parties to it? The people — not the people as compos
ing one great body, but the people as composing thir
teen sovereignties. Were it, as the gentleman as
serts, a consolidated government, the assent of a ma
jority of the people would be sufficient for its estab
lishment, and as a majority have adopted it already,
the remaining States would be bound by the act of the
majority, even if they unanimously reprobated it.
Were it such a government as is suggested, it would be
now binding on the people of this State, without hav
ing had the privilege of deliberating upon it ; but, sir,
no State is bound by it, as it is, without its own consent.
Should all the States adopt it, it will be then a govj
ernment established by the thirteen States of America,
not through the intervention of the Legislatures, but
by the people at large. In this particular respect, the
distinction between the existing and proposed gov
ernments is very material. The existing system has
been derived from the dependent, derivative authori
ty of the Legislatures of the States; whereas this is

MADISON.

derived from the superior power of the people. If
we look at the manner in which alterations are to be
made in it, the same idea is in some degree attended
to. By the new system, a majority of the States can
not introduce amendments; nor are all the States re
quired for that purpose; three-fourths of them 'must
concur in alterations ; in this there is a departure from
the federal idea. The members to the national House
of Representatives are to be chosen by the people at
large, in proportion to the numbers in the respective
districts. When we come to the Senate, its members
are elected by the States in their equal and political
capacity; but had the government been completely
consolidated, the Senate would have been chosen by
the people, in their individual capacity, in the same
manner as the members of the other House. Thus
it is of a complicated nature, and this complication, I
trust, will be found to exclude the evils of absolute
consolidation, as well as of a mere confederacy. If
Virginia were separated from all the States, her power
and authority would extend to all cases ; in like man
ner, were all powers vested in the general govern
ment, it would be a consolidated government ;
but the powers of the Federal government are
enumerated; it can only operate in certain cases: it
has legislative powers on defined and limited objects,
beyond which it cannot extend its jurisdiction.

But the honorable member has satirized, with pecu
liar acrimony, the power given to the general gov
ernment by this Constitution. I conceive that the
first question on this subject is, whether these powers
be necessary ; if they be, we are reduced to the dilem-

MADISON. 291

ma of either submitting to the inconvenience, or losing
the Union. Let us consider the most important of
these reprobated powers; that of direct taxation is
most generally objected to. With respect to the exi
gencies of government, there is no question but the
most easy mode of providing for them will be adopted.
When, therefore, direct taxes are not necessary, they
.will not be recurred to. It can be of little advantage
to those in power to raise money in a manner oppres
sive to the people. To consult the conveniences of
the people will cost them nothing, and in many re
spects will be advantageous to them. Direct taxes
will only be recurred to for great purposes. What
has brought on other nations those immense debts,
under the pressure of which many of them labor ? Not
the expenses of their governments, but war. If this
country should be engaged in war (and I conceive we
ought to provide for the possibility of such a case),
how would it be carried on? By the usual means
provided from year to year? As our imports will be
necessary for the expenses of government, and other
common exigencies, how are we to carry on the
means of defence? How is it possible a war
could be supported without money or credit? And
would it be possible for government to have credit,
without having the power of raising money? No,
it would be impossible for any government, in such
a case, to defend itself. Then, I say, sir, that it is
necessary to establish funds for extraordinary exi
gencies, and give this power to the general govern
ment; for the utter inutility of previous requisitions

on the States is too well known. Would it be possi-
10—1

MADISON.

ble for those countries, whose finances and revenues
are carried to the highest perfection, to carry on the
operations of government on great emergencies, such
as the maintenance of a war, without an uncontrolled
power of raising money? Has it not been necessary
for Great Britain, notwithstanding the facility of the
collection of her taxes, to have recourse very often
to this and other extraordinary methods of pro
curing money? Would not her public credit
have been ruined, if it was known that her power to
raise money was limited? Has not France been
obliged, on great occasions, to recur to unusual means,
in order to raise funds ? It has been the case in many
countries, and no government can exist unless its
powers extend to make provisions for every contin
gency. If we were actually attacked by a powerful
nation, and our general government had not the power
of raising money, but depended solely on requisitions,
our condition would be truly deplorable : if the reven
ues of this commonwealth were to depend on twenty
•distinct authorities, it would be impossible for it to
carry on its operations. This must be obvious to every
member here : I think, therefore, that it is necessary
for the preservation of the Union that this power
should be given to the general government.

But it is urged that its consolidated nature, joined
to the power of direct taxation, will give it a tendency
to destroy all subordinate authority ; that its increasing
influence will speedily enable it to absorb the State
governments. I cannot bring myself to think that this
will be the case. If the general government were
wholly independent of the governments of the par-

MADISON. 293

ticular States, then, indeed, usurpation might be ex
pected to the fullest extent: but, sir, on whom does
this general government depend? It derives* its au
thority from these governments, and from the same
sources from which their authority is derived. The
members of the Federal Government are taken from
the same men from whom those of the State Legis
latures are taken. If we consider the mode in which
the Federal Representatives will be chosen, we shall
be convinced that the general never will destroy the
individual governments; and this conviction must be
strengthened by an attention to the construction of the
Senate. The Representatives will be chosen, proba
bly under the influence of the State Legislatures : but
there is not the least probability that the election of
the latter will be influenced by the former. One hun
dred and sixty members representing this common
wealth in one branch of the Legislature, are drawn
from the people at large, and must ever possess more
influence than the few men who will be elected to the
general Legislature. Those who wish to become
Federal Representatives must depend on their credit
with that cl-ass of men* who will be the most popular
in their counties, who generally represent the people
in the State governments: they can, therefore, never
succeed in any measure contrary to the wishes of those
on whom they depend. So that, on the whole, it
is almost certain that the deliberations of the mem
bers of the Federal House of Representatives will
be directed to the -interests- of the people of America.
As to the other branch, the Senators will be appointed
by the Legislatures, and, though elected for six years,.

294 MADISON.

I do not conceive they will so soon forget the source
whence they derive their political existence. This
election of one branch of the Federal, by the State
Legislatures, secures an absolute dependence of the
former on the latter. The biennial exclusion of one-
third will lesson the facility of a combination, and
preclude all likelihood of intrigues. I appeal to our
past experience, whether they will attend to the inter
ests of their constituent States. Have not those gen
tlemen who have been honored with seats in Congress
often signalized themselves by their attachment to
their States? Sir, I pledge myself that this govern
ment will answer the expectations of its friends, and
foil the apprehensions of its enemies. I am persuaded
that the patriotism of the people will continue, and
be a sufficient guard to their liberties, and that the
tendency of the Constitution will be, that the State
government will counteract the general interest,
and ultimately prevail. The number of the Repre
sentatives is yet sufficient for our safety, and will
gradually increase; and if we consider their different
sources of information, the number will not appear
too small.

Sir, that part of the proposed Constitution which
gives the general government the power of laying and
collecting taxes, is indispensable and essential to the
existence of any efficient or well-organized system of
•government; if we consult reason, and be ruled by its
dictates we shall find its justification there : if we re
view the experience we have had, or contemplate the
history of nations, thereto, we shall find ample rea
sons to prove its expediency. It would be prepcster-

MADISON. 295

ous to depend for necessary supplies on a body which
•is fully possessed of the power of withholding them.
If a government depends on other governments for
its revenues; if it must depend on the voluntary con
tributions of its members its existence must be pre
carious. A government that relies on thirteen inde
pendent sovereignties for the means of its existence,
is a solecism in theory, and a mere nullity in practice.
Is it consistent with reason, that such a government
can promote the happiness of any people ? It is sub
versive of every principle of sound policy, to trust
the safety of a community with a government totally
destitute of the means of protecting itself or its mem
bers. Can Congress, after the repeated unequivocal
proofs it has experienced of the utter inutility and in-
efficacy of requisitions, reasonably expect that they
would be hereafter effectual or productive? Will
not the same local interests, and other causes, militate
against a compliance? Whoever hopes the contrary
must be forever disappointed. The effect, sir, can
not be changed without a removal of the cause. Let
each country in this commonwealth be supposed free
and independent : let your revenues depend on requi
sitions of proportionate quotas from them : let appli
cation be made to them repeatedly, and then ask your
self, is it to be presumed that they would comply, or
that an adequate collection could be made from par
tial compliances? It is now difficult to collect the
taxes from them : how much would that difficulty be
enhanced, were you to depend solely on their gener
osity? I appeal to the reason of every gentleman

296 MADISON.

suaded that the present confederation is as feeble
as the government of Virginia would be in that
case; to the same reason I appeal, whether it be com
patible with prudence to continue a government of
such manifest and palpable weakness and inefficiency.

INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

UNWILLING to depart from examples of the most
revered authority, I avail myself of this occasion, now
presented, to express the profound impression made
on me by the call of my country to the station to the
duties of which I am about to pledge myself by the
most solemn of sanctions. So distinguished a mark
of confidence, proceeding from the deliberate and
tranquil suffrage of a free and virtuous nation, would,
tinder any circumstances, have commanded my grati
tude and devotion, as well as filled me with an awful
sense of the trust to be assumed. Under the various
circumstances which give peculiar solemnity to the ex
isting period, I feel that both the honor and the re
sponsibility allotted to me are inexpressibly enhanced.

The present situation of the world is indeed without
a parallel; and that of our country full of difficulties.
The pressure of these two is the more severely felt
because they have fallen upon us at a moment when,
national prosperity being at a height not before at
tained, the contrast resulting from this change has
been rendered the more striking. Under the beoign
Influence of our republican institutions and the main
tenance of peace with all nations, whilst so many of

MADISON. 297

them were engaged in bloody and wasteful wars, the
fruits of a just policy were enjoyed in an unrivalled
growth of our faculties and resources. Proofs of this
were seen in the improvements of agriculture; in the
successful enterprises of commerce; in the progress
of manufactures and useful arts; in the increase of
the public revenue and the use made of it in reducing
the public debt; and in the valuable works and estab
lishments everywhere multiplying over the face of
our land.

It is a precious reflection that the transition from
this prosperous condition of our country to the scene
which has for some time been distressing us is not
chargeable on any unwarrantable views, nor, as I
trust, on any involuntary errors in the public coun
cils. Indulging no passions which trespass on the-
rights or the repose of other nations, it has been the
true glory of the United States to cultivate peace by
observing justice, and to entitle themselves to the re
spect of the nations at war by fulfilling their neutral
obligations with the most scrupulous impartiality.
If there be candor in the world the truth of these
assertions will not be questioned. Posterity at least
will do justice to them.

This unexceptional course could not avail against
the injustice and violence of the belligerent powers..
In their rage against each other, or impelled by more
direct motives, principles of retaliation have been in
troduced equally contrary to universal reason and
acknowledged law. How long their arbitrary edicts
will be continued in spite of the demonstrations that
not even a pretext for them has been given by the

2gS MADISON.

United States, and of the fair and liberal attempts to
induce a revocation of them, cannot be anticipated.
Assuring myself that under every vicissitude the de
termined spirit and united councils of the nation will
be safeguards, to its honor and its essential interests,
I repair to the post assigned me with no other dis
couragement than what springs from my own inade
quacy to its high duties. If I do not sink under the
weight of this deep conviction it is because I find
some support in a consciousness of the purposes and a
confidence in the* principles which I bring with me
into this arduous service.

To cherish peace and friendly intercourse with all
nations having correspondent dispositions; to main
tain sincere neutrality toward belligerent nations; to
prefer, in all cases, amiable discussion and reasonable
accommodation of differences to a decision of them by
an appeal to arms; to exclude foreign intrigues and
foreign partialities, so degrading to all countries and
so baneful to free ones ; to foster a spirit of indepen
dence too just to invade the rights of others, too proud
to surrender our own, too liberal to indulge unworthy
prejudices ourselves, and too elevated not to look
down upon them in others; to hold the union of the
States as the basis of their peace and happiness ; to sup
port the constitution, which is the cement of the
Union, as wrell in its limitations as in its authorities;
to respect the rights and authorities reserved to the
States and to the people, as equally incorporated with
and essential to the success of the general system; to
avoid the slightest interference with the rights of con
science or the functions of religion, so wisely ex-

MADISON. 299

empted from civil jurisdiction; to preserve in their
full energy the other salutary provisions in behalf of
private and personal rights and of the freedom of the
press; to observe economy in public expenditures; to
liberate the public resources by an honorable dis
charge of the public debts; to keep within the requi
site limit a standing military force, always remember
ing that an armed and trained militia is the firmest
bulwark of republics, that without standing armies
their liberty can never be in danger, nor, with large
ones, safe ; to promote by authorized means improve
ments friendly to agriculture, to manufactures, and
to external, as well as internal commerce ; to favor in
like manner the advancement of science and the diffu
sion of information as the best aliment to true liberty ;.
to carry on the benevolent plans which have been so
meritoriously applied to the conversion of our aborig
inal neighbors from the degradation and wretchedness
of savage life, to a participation of the improvements
of which the human mind and manners are susceptible
in a civilized state : as far as sentiments and intentions
such as these can aid the fulfilment of my duty they
will be a resource which cannot fail me.

It is my good fortune, moreover, to have the path
in which I am to tread lighted by examples of illus
trious services successfully rendered in the most try
ing difficulties by those who have marched before me.
Of those of my immediate predecessor it might least
become me here to speak; I may, however, be par
doned for not suppressing the sympathy with which
my heart is full, in the rich reward he enjoys in the
benedictions of a beloved country, gratefully bestowed

3OO MADISON.

for exalted talents zealously devoted through a long
career to the advancement of its highest interest and
happiness. But the source to which I look for the
aids which' can alone supply my deficiencies is in the
well-tried intelligence and virtue of my fellow
citizens and in the councils of those representing them
in the other departments associated in the care of the
national interests. In these my confidence will, un
der every difficulty, be best placed; next to that we
have all been encouraged to feel in the guardianship
and guidance of that Almighty Being whose power
regulates the destiny of nations, whose blessings have
been so conspicuously dispensed to this rising Repub
lic, and to whom we are bound to address our devout
gratitude for the past as well as our fervent supplica
tions and best hopes for the future.

RED JACKET. 3OI

Red Jacket, Sagoyewatha, an Indian chief of the
Seneca tribe, famous for his oratory, born at Old Castle,
near Geneva, N. Y., in 1751 ; died at Seneca Village,,
N. Y., Jan. 30, 1830. He obtained his name because of his
fondness for a scarlet tunic given him by an English officer
for speed in running. After 1800, he was the most promi
nent leader of the Six Nations. Red Jacket fought with
his tribe on the English side in the American Revolution,,
but in the second war with England he espoused the Amer
ican cause. He possessed extraordinary powers as an
orator, and his style was one of great dignity and impressive-
ness. His most celebrated speech was delivered at Fort
Stanwix in opposition to the treaty between the United
States and the Six Nations.

SPEECH AT FORT STANWIX.

[A succession of outrages upon the Indians residing along the
Pennsylvania border, resulting at different times in the murder of
several of their people, induced the Senecas and Tuscaroras in
February, 1801, to send a deputation of their chiefs to the seat of
the Federal government, which, since the last Seneca embassage,
had been transferred from Philadelphia to the city of Washington.
Red Jacket was at the head of this deputation, which was received
formally, with an appropriate speech, by the acting secretary of
war, Samuel Dexter, on the loth of February. On the nth Red
Jacket replied, setting forth the business of his mission in the fol
lowing speech :]

BROTHER. — We received your speech, which re
moved all uneasiness from our minds. We then told
you that should it please the Great Spirit to permit
us to rise in health this day you should hear what we
have come to say.

Brother, the business on which we are now come is-

3O2 RED JACKET.

to restore the friendship that has existed between the
United States and the Six Nations, agreeable to the
direction of the commissioner from the fifteen fires
of the United States. He assured us that whenso
ever, by any grievance, the chain of friendship should
become rusty, we might have it brightened by calling
on you. We dispense with the usual formality of
having your speech again read, as we fully compre
hended it yesterday, and it would therefore be useless
to waste time in a repetition of it.

Brother, yesterday you wiped the tears from our
•eyes, that we might see clearly; you unstopped our
ears that we might hear; and removed the obstruc
tions from our throats that we might speak distinctly.
You offered to join with us in tearing up the largest
pine-tree in our forests, and under it to bury the toma
hawk. We gladly join with you, brother, in this
work, and let us heap rocks and stones on the root of
this tree that the tomahawk may never again be found.

Brother, your 'apology for not having wampum is
sufficient, and we agree to accept of your speeches on
paper, to evince our sincerity in wishing the tomahawk
forever buried. We accompany a repetition of our
assurances with these strings [Strings of wampum.]

Brother, we always desire, on similar melancholy
occasions, to go through our customary forms of con
dolence, and have been happy to find the officers of
the government of the United States willing in this
manner to make our minds easy.

Brother, we observe that the men now in office are
new men, and, we fear, not fully informed of all
that has befallen us. In 1791 a treaty was held by

RED JACKET. 303

the commissioners of Congress with us at Tioga
Point, on a similar occasion. We have lost seven of
our warriors, murdered in cold blood by white men,
since the conclusion of the war. We are tired of this
mighty grievance and wish some general arrangement
to prevent it in future. The first of these was mur
dered on the banks of the Ohio, near Fort Pitt.
Shortly after two men belonging to our first families
were murdered at Pine Creek ; then one at Fort Frank
lin; another at Tioga Point; and now the two that
occasion this visit, on the Big Beaver. These last
two had families. The one was a Seneca; the other a
Tuscarora. Their families are now destitute of sup
port, and we think that the United States should do
something toward theis support, as it is to the United
States they owe the loss of their heads.

Brother, these offences are always committed in one
place on the frontier of Pennsylvania. In the Gene-
see country we live happy and no one molests us.
I must therefore beg that the President will exert all
his influence with all officers, civil and military, in-
that quarter, to remedy this grievance, and trust that
he will thus prevent a repetition of it and save our
blood from being spilled in future. [A belt.]

Brother, let me call to mind the treaty between the
United States and the Six Nations, concluded at Can-
andaigua. At that treaty Colonel Pickering, who was
commissioner on behalf of the United States, agreed
that the United States should pay to the Six Nations
four thousand five hundred dollars per annum, and
that this should pass through the hands of he super
intendent of the United States, to be appointed for

304 RED JACKET.

that purpose. This treaty was made in the name
of the President of the United States, who was then
General Washington ; and, as he is now no more, per-
liaps the present President would wish to renew the
treaty. But if he should think the old one valid and
is willing to let it remain in force we are also willing.
The sum above mentioned we wish to have part of in
money, to expend in more agricultural tools and in
purchasing a team, as we have some horses that will
do for the purpose. We also wish to build a sawmill
on the Buffalo creek. If the President, however,
thinks proper to have it continue as heretofore, we
shall not be very uneasy. Whatever he may do we
agree to; we only suggest this for his consideration.
[A belt.]

Brother, I hand you the above-mentioned treaty,
made by Colonel Pickering in the name of General
Washington, and the belt that accompanied it; as he
is now dead we know not if it is still valid. If not,
we wish it renewed — if it is, we wish it copied on clean
parchment. Our money got loose in our trunk and
tore it. We also show you the belt which is the path
of peace between our Six Nations and the United
States. [Treaty and two belts.]

Brother, a request was forwarded by us from the
Onondaga Nation to the Governor of New York that
he should appoint a commissioner to hold a treaty with
•them. They have a reservation surrounded by white
men which they wish to sell. The Cayugas also have
a reservation so surrounded that they have been
forced to leave it, and they hope that the President's
-commissioner, whom they expect he will not hesitate

RED JACKET. 30$,

to appoint, will be instructed to attend to this busi
ness. We also have some business with New York
which we would wish him to attend to.
' Brother, the business that has caused this our long
journey was occasioned by some of your bad men ; the
expense of it has been heavy on us. We beg that as
so great a breach has been made on your part, the
President will judge it proper that the United States
should bear our expenses to and from home and whilst
here.

Brother, three horses belonging to the Tuscarora
Nation were killed by some men under the command
of Major Rivardi, on the plains of Niagara. They
have made application to the superintendent and to
Major Rivardi, but get no redress. You make us
pay for our breaches of the peace, why should you not
pay also? A white man has told us the horses were
killed by Major Rivardi's orders, who said they should
not be permitted to come there, although it was an
open common on which they were killed. Mr. Chapin
has the papers respecting these horses, which we re
quest you to take into consideration.

306 RED JACKET.

DEFENCE OF STIFF-ARMED GEORGE.

[Some time during the year 1802, John Hewitt, a white man, was
murdered at Buffalo Creek by Stiff-armed-George, an Indian, who
was intoxicated at the time he committed the act. His surrender
was demanded by the civil authorities of New York. This demand
was resisted, the fact of drunkenness on the part of the offender
being pleaded in extenuation of the crime. After several meetings
between the Indians and the citizens, in which the latter had vainly
attempted to persuade the former to surrender the culprit, a coun
cil of the principal chiefs of the Senecas, Cayugas, and Onondagas
was convened at Canandaigua, to give the question a more solemn
consideration. A conference having been arranged between the
council and the principal inhabitants, Red Jacket, arguing against
the surrender upon the principles already indicated, delivered the
following speech, addressed particularly to the white portion of his
audience :]

BROTHERS, — Open your ears and give your atten
tion. This day is appointed by the Great Spirit to
meet our friends at this place. During the many
years that we have lived together in this country good
will and harmony have subsisted among us.

Brothers, we have now come forward on an un
happy occasion. We cannot find words to express
our feelings upon it. One of our people has murdered
one of your people. So it has been ordered by the
Great Spirit, who controls all events. This has been
done : we cannot now help it. At first view it would
seem to have the effect of putting an end to our
friendship; but let us reflect and put our minds to
gether. Can't we point out measures whereby our
peace and harmony may still be preserved ? We have

RED JACKET. 307

come forward to this place, where we have always
had a superintendent and friend to receive us and to
make known to him such grievances as lay upon our
minds ; but now we have none ; and we have no guard
ian — no protector — no one is now authorized to re
ceive us.

Brother, we therefore now call upon you to take our
speech in writing and forward our ideas to the Presi
dent of the United States.

Brothers, let us look back to our former situation.
While you were under the government of Great Brit
ain, Sir William Johnson was our superintendent, ap
pointed by the King. He had power to settle offences
of this kind among all the Indian nations without ad
verting to the laws. But under the British govern
ment you were uneasy — you wanted to change it for
a better. General Washington went forward as your
leader. From his exertions you gained your inde
pendence. Immediately afterward a treaty was made
between the United States and the Six Nations,
whereby a method was pointed out of redressing such
an accident as the present. Several such accidents
did happen where we were the sufferers. We now
•crave the same privilege in making restitution to you
that you adopted toward us in a similar situation.

Brothers, at the close of our treaty at Philadel
phia General Washington told us that we had formed
a chain of friendship which was bright; he hoped it
would continue so on our part ; that fche United States
would be equally willing to brighten it, if rusted by
any means. A number of murders have been com
mitted on our people — we shall only mention the last

308 RED JACKET.

of them. About two years ago a few of our warriors
were amusing themselves in the woods to the west
ward of Fort Pitt; two white men coolly and deliber
ately took their rifles, travelled nearly three miles to
our encampment, fired upon the Indians, killed two
men and wounded two children. We then were the
party injured. What did we do? We flew to the
treaty and thereby obtained redress perfectly satis
factory to us, and we hope agreeable to you. This
was done a short time before President Adams went
out of office: complete peace and harmony was re
stored. We now want the same method of redress
to be pursued.

Brothers, how did the present accident take place?
Did our warriors go from home cool and sober and
commit murder on you? No. Our brother was in
liquor and a quarrel ensued, in which the unhappy acci
dent happened. We would not excuse him on account
of his being in liquor; but such a thing was far from
his intentions in his sober moments. We are all ex
tremely grieved at it, and are willing to come forward
and have it settled as crimes of the same nature have
heretofore been.

Brothers, since this accident has taken place we
have been informed that by the laws of this State, if a
murder is committed within it, the murderer must be
tried by the laws of the State and punished with death.

Brothers, when were such laws explained to us?
Did we ever make a treaty with the State of New
York and agree to conform to its' laws ? No. We are
independent of the State of New York. It was the
\vill of the Great Spirit to create us different in color;

RED JACKET. 309

we have different laws, habits and customs from the
white people. We shall never consent that the gov
ernment of this State shall try our brother. We ap
peal to the government of the United States.

Brothers, under the customs and habits of our fore
fathers we were a happy* people; we had laws of our
own ; they were dear to us. The whites came among
us and introduced their customs; they introduced li
quor among us, which our forefathers always told us
would prove our ruin.

Brothers, in consequence of the introduction of
liquor among us numbers of our people were killed.
A council was held to consider of a remedy, at which
it was agreed by us that no private revenge should
take place for any such murder — that it was decreed
by the Great Spirit and that a council should be called
to consider of redress to the friends of the deceased.

Brothers, the President of the United States is
called a great man, possessing great power. He may
do what he pleases — he may turn men out of office,
men who held their offices long before he held his.
If he can do these things can he not even control the
laws of this State? Can he not appoint a commis
sioner to come forward to our country and settle the
present difference, as we, on our part, have hereto
fore often done to him, upon a similar occasion?

We now call upon you, brothers, to represent these
things to the President, and we trust that he will not
refuse our request of sending a commissioner to us
with powers to settle the present difference. The
consequence of a refusal may be serious. We are
determined that our brother shall not be tried by the

310 RED JACKET.

laws of the State of New York. Their laws make
no difference between a crime committed in liquor
and one committed coolly and deliberately. Our
laws are different, as we have before stated. If tried
here our brother must be hanged. We cannot sub
mit to that; has a murder been committed upon our
people, when was it punished with death?

Brothers, we have now finished what we had to say
on the subject of the murder. We wish to address
you upon another, and to have our ideas communi
cated to the President upon it also.

Brothers, it was understood at the treaty concluded
by Colonel Pickering that our superintendent should
reside in the town of Canandaigua, and for very good
reasons: that situation is the most central for the
Six Nations; and by subsequent treaties with the
State of New York and the Indians there are still
stronger reasons why he should reside here, princi
pally on account of the annuities being stipulated to
be paid to our superintendent at this place. These
treaties are sacred. If their superintendent resides
elsewhere the State may object to sending their money
to him at a greater distance. We would therefore
wish our superintendent to reside here at all events.

Brothers, with regard to the appointment of our
present superintendent, we look upon ourselves as
much neglected and injured. When General Chapin
and Captain Chapin were appointed our wishes were
consulted upon the occasion and we most cordially
agreed to the appointments. Captain Chapin has
been turned out, however, within these few days. We
jdo not understand that any neglect of duty has been

RED JACKET. 3H

alleged against him. We are told it is because he
differs from the President in his sentiments on gov
ernment matters. He has also been perfectly satis
factory to us ; and had we known of the intention we
should most cordially have united in a petition to the
President to continue him in office. We feel our
selves injured; we have nobody to look to, nobody to
listen to our complaints, none to reconcile any differ
ences among us. We are like a young family without
a father.

Brothers, we understand that the President has
appointed a superintendent who is altogether un
known to us and who is unacquainted with Indian
affairs. We know him not in our country. Had we
been consulted upon the subject we might have named
some one residing in this country who was v/ell
known to us. Perhaps we might have agreed upon
Mr. Oliver Phelps, whose politics, coinciding with
those of the President, might have recommended
him to the office.

Brothers, we cannot conclude without again urging*
you to make known all these sentiments to the Presi
dent.*

* The eloquent pleadings of the Indians were unavailing. They
were compelled to surrender the offender to the inexorable law of
the white man, though it was done with great reluctance. His
name was Stiff-armed-George. He was tried and convicted at the
Oyer and Terminer of Ontario county, on the 23d of February,
1803 — Brockholst Livingston, one of the justices of the supreme
court, presiding ; but as the murder was without pre-existing malice,
and was moreover attended by various mitigating circumstances,
the court, the attorney-general, the grand jury that indicted him,
together with many of the people of Canandaigua, united in a peti
tion to the governor, George Clinton, for his pardon.

312 RED JACKET.

REPLY TO MR. CRAM.

[In the summer of 1805 a young missionary named Cram was
sent into the country of the Six Nations by the Evangelical Mis
sionary Society of Massachusetts to found a mission among the
Senecas. A council of their chiefs was convoked to hear his propo
sitions. These were made in a short speech to which the Indians
listened with earnest attention. After a long consultation among,
themselves Red Jacket rose and spoke as follows :]

FRIEND AND BROTHER, — It was the will of the Great
Spirit that we should meet together this day. He
orders all things and has given us a fine day for our
council. He has taken his garment from before the
sun and caused it to shine with brightness upon us.
Our eyes are opened that we see clearly; our ears
are unstopped that we have been able to hear distinctly
the words you have spoken. For all these favors we
thank the Great Spirit, and him only.

Brother, this council fire was kindled by you. It was-
at your request that we came together at this time.
We have listened with attention to what you have
said. You requested us to speak our minds freely.
This gives us great joy; for we now consider that
we stand upright before you and can speak what we
think. All have heard your voice and all speak to
you now as one man. Our minds are agreed.

Brother, you say you want an answer to your talk
before you leave this place. It is right you should
have one, as you are a great distance from home and
we do not wish to detain you. But we will first look

RED JACKET. 313

back a little and tell you what our fathers have told
us and what we have heard from the white people.

Brother, listen to what we say. There was a time
when our forefathers owned this great island. Their
seats extended from the rising to the setting sun.
The Great Spirit had made it for the use of Indians.
He had created the buffalo, the deer, and other ani
mals for food. He had made the bear and the bea
ver. Their skins served us for clothing. He had
scattered them over the country and taught us how to
take them. He had caused the earth to produce corn
for bread. All this he had done for his red children
because he loved them. If we had some disputes
about our hunting ground they were generally set
tled without the shedding of much blood. But an
evil day came upon us. Your forefathers crossed the
great water and landed on this island. Their num
bers were small. They found friends and not ene
mies. They told us they had fled from their own
country for fear of wicked men and had come here to
enjoy their religion. They asked for a small seat.
We took pity on them ; granted their request, and they
sat down amongst us. We gave them corn and meat ;
they gave us poison in return.

The white people, brother, had now found our coun
try. Tidings were carried back and more came
amongst us. Yet we did not fear them. We took
them to be friends. They called us brothers. We
believed them and gave them a larger seat. At
length their numbers had greatly increased; they
wanted more land; they wanted our country. Our
eyes were opened and our minds became uneasy.

314 RED JACKET.

Wars took place. Indians were hired to fight against
Indians, and many of our people were destroyed.
They also brought strong liquor amongst us. It
was strong and powerful and has slain thousands.

Brother, our seats were once large and yours were
small. You have now become a great people, and we
have scarcely a place left to spread our blankets. You
have got our country but are not satisfied; you want
to force your religion upon us.

Brother, continue to listen. You say that you are
sent to instruct us how to worship the Great Spirit
agreeably to his mind; and, if we do not take hold
of. the religion which you white people teach we shall
be unhappy hereafter. You say that you are right
and we are lost. How do we know this to be true?
We understand that your religion is written in a book.
If it was intended for us, as well as you, why has
not the Great Spirit given to us, and not only to us,
but why did he not give to our forefathers the knowl
edge of that book, with the means of understanding
it rightly? We only know what you tell us about it.
How shall we know when to believe, being so often
deceived by the white people?

Brother, you say there is but one way to worship
and serve the Great Spirit. If there is but one re
ligion, why do you white people differ so much about
it ? Why not all agreed, as you can all read the book ?

Brother, we do not understand these things. We
are told that your religion was given to your fore
fathers and has been handed down from father to
son. We also have a religion, which was given to

RED JACKET. 315

•our forefathers, and has been handed down to us,
their children. We worship in that way. It teaches
us to be thankful for all the favors we receive; to
love each other and to be united. We never quarrel
about religion.

Brother, the Great Spirit has made us all, but he has
made a great difference between his white and red
children. He has given us different complexions and
different customs. To you he has given the arts.
To these he has not opened our eyes. We know these
things to be true. Since he has made so great a differ
ence between us in other things, why may we not con
clude that he has given us a different religion ac
cording to our understanding? The Great Spirit
does right. He knows what is best for his children;
we are satisfied.

Brother, we do not wish to destroy your religion or
take it from you. We only want to enjoy our own.

Brother, you say you have not come to get our land
or our money, but to enlighten our minds. I will now
tell you that I have been at your meetings and saw
you collect money from the meeting. I cannot tell
what this money was intended for, but suppose that
it was for your minister, and, if we should conform to
your way of thinking, perhaps you may want some
from us.

Brother we are told that you have been preaching
to the white people in this place. These people are
-our neighbors. We are acquainted writh them. We
will wait a little while and see what effect your
preaching has upon them. If we find it does them

RED JACKET.

good, makes them honest, and less disposed to cheat
Indians, we will then consider again of what you have
said.

Brother, you have now heard our answer to your
talk, and this is all we have to say at present. As
we are going to part, we will come and take you by
the hand, and hope the Great Spirit will protect you on
your journey and return you safe to your friends.

MORRIS. 31/

Morris, Gouverneur, a famous American statesman,
orator and patriot, born at Morrisania, N. Y., Jan. 31, 1752 ;
died there, Nov. 6, 1816. He held positions of prominence
both during and after the American Revolution, being a
member of the Continental Congress, 1777-80, and of the
Constitutional Convention, minister to France, 1792-94, and
United States Senator from New York, 1800-03. He was
an able actor in public affairs, a clear thinker, and a fluent
orator whose readiness in debate excited the ire of his oppo
nents. Morris's speech on the Judiciary will be found to
convey a fair impression of his style.

SPEECH ON THE JUDICIARY.

[Delivered in the Senate of the United States, on January 14,
1802, on the motion, " Resolved that the act of Congress passed on
the thirteenth day of February, 1801, entitled, 'An act to provide
for the more convenient organization of the courts of the United
States,' ought to be repealed."]

MR. PRESIDENT, — I had fostered the hope that some
gentleman who thinks with me would have taken upon
himself the task of replying to the observations made
yesterday and this morning in favor of the motion on
your table. But since no gentleman has gone so
fully into the subject as it seems to require I am com
pelled to request your attention.

We were told yesterday by the honorable member
from Virginia that our objections were calculated for
the bystanders, and made with a view to produce effect
upon the people at large. I know not for whom the
charge is intended. I certainly recollect no such ob
servations. As I was personally charged with making
a play upon words, it may have been intended for me.

318 MORRIS.

But surely, sir, it will be recollected that I de
clined that paltry game, and declared that I consid
ered the verbal criticism which had been relied on as
irrelevant. If I can recollect what I said from recol
lecting well what I thought and meant to say, sure I
am that I uttered nothing in the style of an appeal ta
the people. I hope no member of this House has
so poor a sense of its dignity as to make such an ap
peal.

As to myself, it is now near thirty years since I
was called into public office. During that period I
have frequently been the servant of the people, al
ways their friend; but at no one moment of my life
their flatterer, and God forbid that I ever should be.

When the honorable gentleman considers the course
we have taken he must see that the observation he
has thus pointed can light on no object. I trust that
it did not flow from the consciousness of his own in
tentions. He, I hope, had no view of this sort. If
he had, he was much, very much mistaken. Had he
looked around upon those who honor us by their
attendance he would have seen that the splendid
flashes of his wit excited no approbatory smile.

The countenances of those by whom we were sur
rounded presented a different spectacle. They were
impressed with the dignity of this House; they per
ceived in it the dignity of the American people and
felt, with high and manly sentiment, their own par
ticipation.

We have been told, sir, by the honorable gentleman
from Virginia, that there is no independent part of
this government; that in popular governments the

MORRIS. 319

force of every department, as well as the government
itself, must depend upon popular opinion.

The honorable member from North Carolina has
informed us that there is no check for the overbearing
powers of the legislature but public opinion; and he
has been pleased to notice a sentiment I had uttered —
a sentiment which not only fell from my lips but
which flowed from my heart. It has, however, been
misunderstood and misapplied. After reminding the
House of the dangers to which popular governments
are exposed from the influence of designing dema
gogues upon popular passion, I took the liberty to say
that we — we the Senate of the United States — are
assembled here to save the people from their most dan
gerous enemy, to save them from themselves; to
guard them against the baneful effects of their own
precipitation, their passion, their misguided zeal. It
is for these purposes that all our constitutional checks
are devised.

If this be not the language of the constitution, the
constitution is all nonsense. For why are the Sena
tors chosen by communities and the representatives
.directly by the people ? Why are the one chosen for
a longer term than the other? Why give one branch
of the legislature a negative upon the acts of the other ?
W^hy give the President a right to arrest the proceed
ings of both till two-thirds of each should concur?
Why all these multiplied precautions unless to check
and control that impetuous spirit, that headlong tor
rent of opinion which has swept away every popular
government that ever existed?

With the most respectful attention I heard the de-

320 MORRIS.

claration of the gentleman from Virginia of his own
sentiment. " Whatever," said he, " may be the
opinion of the constitution, I hold myself bound to re
spect it." He disdained, sir, to profess an attachment
he did not feel, and I accept his candor as a pledge for
the performance of his duty. But he will admit this
necessary inference from that frank confession that,,
although he will struggle against his inclination and
support the constitution even to the last moment yet
when in spite of all his efforts it shall fall, he will re
joice in its destruction.

Far different are my feelings.

It is possible that we are both prejudiced, and that
in taking the ground on which we respectively stand
our judgments are influenced by the sentiments
which glow in our hearts. I, sir, wish to support this
constitution because I love it; and I love it because I
consider it the bond of our Union ; because in my soul
I believe that on it depends our harmony and our
peace; that without it we should soon be plunged in
all the horrors of civil war; that this country would
be deluged with the blood of its inhabitants and a
brother's hand raised against the bosom of a brother.

After these preliminary remarks I hope I shall be
indulged while I consider the subject in reference
to the two points which have been taken, the expe
diency and the constitutionality of the repeal.

In considering the expediency I hope I shall be par
doned for asking your attention -to some parts of the
constitution which have not yet been dwelt upon and
which tend to elucidate this part of our inquiry. I
agree fully with the gentleman that every section,,

MORRIS. 321

every sentence, and every word of the constitution
ought to be deliberately weighed and examined; nay,
I am content to go along with him and give its due
value and importance to every stop and comma.

In the beginning we find a declaration of the mo
tives which induced the American people to bind them
selves by this compact. And in the foreground of
that declaration we find these objects specified: "to
form a more perfect Union, to establish justice, and
to ensure domestic tranquillity." But how are these
objects effected? The people intended to establish
justice. What provision have they made to fulfil that
intention ? After pointing out the courts which should
be established, the second section of the third article
informs us, —

— " the judicial power shall extend to all cases in law
and equity arising under this constitution, the laws of
the United States and treaties made or which shall
be made under their authority; to all cases affecting
ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls; to all
cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; to con
troversies to which the United States shall be a party ;
to controversies between two or more States ; between
a State and citizens of another State ; between citizens
of different States ; between citizens of the same State
claiming lands under grants of different States, and
between a State or the citizens thereof, and foreign
States, citizens, or subjects.

" In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public
ministers and consuls, and those in which a State
shall be a party, the Supreme Court shall have orig-

322 MORRIS.

inal jurisdiction. In all the other cases before men
tioned the Supreme Court shall have appellate juris
diction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions
and under such regulations as the Congress shall
make."

Thus, then, we find that the judicial power shall ex
tend to a great variety of cases, but that the Supreme
Court shall have only appellate jurisdiction in all ad
miralty and marine causes, in all controversies between
the United States and private citizens, between citizens
of different States, between citizens of the same State
claiming lands under different States, and between
a citizen of the United States and foreign States, cit
izens, or subjects.

The honorable gentleman from Kentucky who made
the motion on your table has told us that the consti
tution, in its judiciary provisions, contemplated only
those cases which could not be tried in the State
courts. But he will, I hope, pardon me when I con
tend that the constitution did not merely contemplate,
but did by express words reserve to the national tri
bunals a right to decide and did secure to the citizens
of America a right to demand their decision in many
cases evidently cognizable in the State courts. And
what are these cases? They are those in respect to
which it is by the constitution presumed that the State
courts would not always make a cool and calm investi
gation, a fair and just decision.

To form, therefore, a more perfect union and to
ensure domestic tranquillity, the constitution has said
there shall be courts of the Union to try causes by the

MORRIS. 323

wrongful decision of which the Union might be en
dangered or domestic tranquillity be disturbed. And
what courts? Look again at the cases designated.
The Supreme Court has no original jurisdiction. The
constitution has said that the judicial powers shall be
vested in the Supreme and inferior courts. It has de
clared that the judicial power so vested shall extend
to the cases mentioned, and that the Supreme Court
shall not have original jurisdiction in those cases.

Evidently, therefore, it has declared that they shall,
in the first instance, be tried by inferior courts, with
appeal to the Supreme Court. This therefore
amounts to a declaration that the inferior courts shall
exist; since without them the citizen is deprived of
those rights for which he stipulated, or rather, those
rights verbally granted would be actually withheld;
and that great security of our Union, that necessary
guard of our tranquillity, be completely paralyzed if
not destroyed.

In declaring, then, that these tribunals shall exist,
it equally declares that the Congress shall ordain and
establish them. I say they shall; this is the evident
intention if not the express words of the constitution.
The convention in framing, the American people in
adopting that compact, did not, could not, presume
that the Congress would omit to do what they were
thus bound to do. They could not presume that the
legislature would hesitate one moment in establishing
the organs necessary to carry into effect those whole
some, those important provisions.

The honorable member from Virginia has given us

a history of the judicial system, and in the course of
ll—l

324 MORRIS.

it has told us that the judges of the Supreme Court
knew, when they accepted their offices, the duties they
had to perform and the salaries they were to receive.
He thence infers that if again called on to do the
same duties they have no right to complain.

Agreed — but that is not the question between us.
Admitting that they have made a hard bargain and
that we may hold them to a strict performance, is it
wise to exact their compliance to the injury of our
constituents? We are urged to go back to the old
system ; but let us first examine the effect of that sys
tem. The judges of the Supreme Court rode the cir
cuits, and two of them, with the assistance of a district
judge, held circuit courts and tried causes. As a
Supreme Court they have in most cases only an appel
late jurisdiction. In the first instance, therefore, they
tried a cause sitting as an inferior court, and then on
appeal tried it over again as a supreme court. Thus,
then, the appeal was from the sentence of the judges
to the judges themselves. But say, that to avoid this
impropriety, you will incapacitate the two judges who
sat on the circuit from sitting in the Supreme Court
to review their owrn decrees. Strike them off; and
suppose either the same or a contrary decision to have
been made on another circuit by two of their breth
ren in a similar case, for the same reason you strike
them off and then you have no court left. Is this
wise? Is it safe? You place yourselves in the situ
ation where your citizens must be deprived of the ad
vantage given to them of a court of appeals, or else
run the greatest risk that the decision of the first court
will carry with it that of the other.

MORRIS. 325

The same honorable member has given us a history
of the law passed the last session, which he wishes
now to repeal. That history is accurate at least in one
important part of it. I believe that all amendments
were rejected, pertinaciously rejected; and I acknowl
edge that I joined heartily in that rejection. It was
for the clearest reason on earth. We all perfectly un
derstood that to amend the bill was to destroy it ; that if
ever it got back to the other House it would perish.
Those, therefore, who approved of the general pro
visions of that bill were determined to adopt it. We
sought the practicable good, and would not, in pursuit
of unattainable perfection, sacrifice that good to the
pride of opinion. We took the bill, therefore, with its
imperfections, convinced that when it was once passed
into a law it might be easily amended.

We are now told that this procedure was improper ;
nay, that it was indecent; that public opinion had
declared itself against us; that a majority, holding
different opinions, was already chosen to the other
House, and that a similar majority was expected for
that in which we sit. Mr. President, are we then to
understand that opposition to the majority in the two
Houses of Congress is improper, is indecent?

If so, what are we to think of those gentlemen who,
not only with proper and decent but with laudable mo
tives, for such is their claim, so long, so perseveringly,
so pertinaciously opposed that voice of the people
which had so repeatedly and for so many years de
clared itself against them through the organ of their
representatives? Was this indecent in them? If not,
how cculcl it be improper for us to seize the only mo-

326 MORRIS.

ment which was left for the then majority to do what
they deemed a necessary act? Let me again refer to
those imperious demands of the constitution which
called on us to establish inferior courts. Let me re
mind gentlemen of their assertion on this floor that
centuries might elapse before any judicial system
could be established with general consent. And then
let me ask, being thus impressed with the sense of the
duty and the difficulty of performing that arduous
task, was it not wise to seize the auspicious moment?

Among the many stigmas affixed to this law we
have been told that the President, in selecting men to
fill the offices which it created, made vacancies and
filled them from the floor of this House ; and that but
for the influence of this circumstance a majority in
favor of it could not have been found. Let us ex
amine this suggestion. It is grounded on a supposi
tion of corrupt influence, derived from a hope
founded on two remote and successive contingencies.

First, the vacancy might or might not exist; for it
depended as well on the acceptance of another as on
the President's grant; and, secondly, the President
might or might not fill it with a member of this
House.

Yet on this vague conjecture, on this unstable
ground, it is inferred that men in high confidence vio
lated their duty. It is hard to determine the influence
of self-interest on the heart of man. I shall not, there
fore, make the attempt. In the present case it is pos
sible that the imputation may be just, but I hope not,
I believe not. At any rate gentlemen will agree with

MORRIS. 327

me that the calculation is uncertain and the conjec
ture vague.

But let it now for argument's sake be admitted, sav
ing always the reputation of honorable men who are
not here to defend themselves — let it, I say, for argu
ment's sake be admitted that the gentlemen alluded to
acted under the influence of improper motives. What
then? Is a law that has received the varied assent
required by the constitution and is clothed with all the
needful formalities thereby invalidated ? Can you im
pair its force by impeaching the motives of any mem
ber who voted for it?

Does it follow that a law is bad because all those
who concurred in it cannot give good reasons for their
votes? Is it not before us? Must we not judge of it
by its intrinsic merit? Is it a fair argument, address
ed to our understanding, to say we must repeal a law,
even a good one, if the enacting of it may have been
effected in any degree by improper motives? Or is
the judgment of this House so feeble that it may not
be trusted ?

Gentlemen tell us, however, that the law is material
ly defective, nay, that it is unconstitutional. What
follows? Gentlemen bid us repeal it. But is this just
reasoning? If the law be only defective, why not
amend? And if unconstitutional, why repeal? In
this case no repeal can be necessary; the law is in it
self void; it is a mere dead letter. . . .

We are told that we may violate our constitution
because similar constitutions have been violated else
where. Two States have been cited to that effect,
Maryland and Virginia. The honorable gentleman

328 MORRIS.

from Virginia tells us that when this happened in the
State he belongs to no complaint was made by the
judges. I will not inquire into that fact, although I
have the protest of the judges now lying before me :
judges eminent for their talents, renowned for their
learning, respectable for their virtue. I will not in
quire what constitutions have been violated. I will
not ask either when or where this dangerous prac
tice began or has been followed ; I will admit the fact.
What does it prove ? Does it prove that because they
have violated we also may violate ? Does it not prove
directly the contrary? Is it not the strongest reason
on earth for preserving the independence of our trib
unals? If it be true that they have with strong hand
seized their courts and bent them to their will, ought
we not to give suitors a fair chance for justice in our
courts, or must the suffering citizen be deprived of all
protection ?

The gentleman from Virginia has called our at
tention to certain cases which he considers as forming
necessary exceptions to the principles for which we
contend. Permit me to say that necessity is a hard
law and frequently proves too much, and let the gen
tleman recollect that arguments which prove too much
prove nothing. He has instanced a case where it may
be proper to appoint commissioners, for a limited time,
to settle some particular description of controversies.
Undoubtedly it is always in the power of Congress
to form a board of commissioners for particular pur
poses. He asks, are these inferior courts, and must
they also exist forever? I answer that the nature of
their offices must depend on the law by which they

MORRIS. 329

are created; if called to exercise the judicial functions
designated by the constitution they must have an ex
istence conformable to its injunctions.

Again, he has instanced the Mississippi Territory,
claimed by and which may be surrendered to the
State of Georgia, and a part of the Union which may
be conquered by a foreign enemy. And he asks, tri
umphantly, are our inferior courts to remain after our
jurisdiction is gone ? This case rests upon a principle
so simple that I am surprised the honorable member
did not perceive the answer in the very moment when
he made the objection. Is it by our act that a country
is taken from us by a foreign enemy? Is it by our
consent that our jurisdiction is lost? I had the honor,
in speaking the other day, expressly and for the most
obvious reasons to except the case of conquest. As
well might we contend for the government of a town
swallowed up by an earthquake.

[Mr. Mason explained : he had supposed the case of
territory conquered, and afterwards ceded to the con
queror, or some other territory ceded in lieu of it.]

The case is precisely the same; until after the
peace the conquest is not complete. Everybody
knows that until the cession by treaty the original
owrner has the postliminar right to a territory taken
from him. Beyond all question, where Congress is
compelled to cede the territory, the judges can no
longer exist unless the new sovereign confer the
office. Over such territory the constitution ceases and
of course the rights which it confers.

33O MORRIS.

It is said the judicial institution is intended for
the benefit of the people and not of the judge; and it
is complained of that in speaking of the office we say
it is his office. Undoubtedly the institution is for the
benefit of the people. But the question remains, how
will it be rendered most beneficial? Is it by making
the judge independent, — by making it his office; or
is it by placing him in a state of abject dependence,
so that the office shall be his to-day and belong to an
other to-morrow ? Let the gentleman hear the words
of the constitution: it speaks of their offices; conse
quently, as applied to a single judge, of his office, to
be exercised by him for the benefit of the people of
America, to which exercise his independence is as ne
cessary as his office.

The gentleman from Virginia has on this occasion
likened the judge to a bridge and to various other ob
jects; but I hope for his pardon if, while I admire the
lofty flights of his eloquence, I abstain from noticing
observations which I conceive to be utterly irrelevant.

The same honorable member has not only given us
his history of the Supreme Court, but has told us of
the manner in which they do business, and expressed
his fears that, having little else to do, they would do
mischief. We are not competent, sir, to examine, nor
ought we to prejudge their conduct. I am persuad
ed they will do their duty, and presume they will have
the decency to believe that we do our duty. In so
far as they may be busied with the great mischief of
checking the legislative or executive departments in
any wanton invasion of our rights I shall rejoice in
that mischief. I hope, indeed, they will not be so

MORRIS. 331

busied, because I hope we shall give them no cause.
But I also hope they will keep an eagle eye upon us lest
we should. It was partly for this purpose they were
established, and I trust that when properly called on
they will dare to act. I know this doctrine is unpleas
ant ; I know it is more popular to appeal to public opin
ion : that equivocal transient being which exists no-
Avhere and everywhere. But if ever the occasion calls
for it I trust that the Supreme Court will not neglect
doing the great mischief of saving this constitution,
which can be done much better by their deliberations
than by resorting to what are called revolutionary
measures.

The honorable member from North Carolina, sore
pressed by the delicate situation in which he is placed,
thinks he has discovered a new argument in favor of
the vote which he is instructed to give. As far as I
can enter into his ideas and trace their progress he
seems to have assumed the position which was to be
proved, and then searched through the constitution,
not to discover whether the legislature have the right
contended for, but whether, admitting them to pos
sess it, there may not be something which might not
comport with that idea. I shall state the honorable
member's argument as I understand it, and, if mistak
en, pray to be corrected. He read to us that clause
which relates to impeachment, and comparing it with
that which fixes the tenure of judicial office, observ
ed that this clause must relate solely to a removal by
the executive power, whose right to remove, though
not indeed anywhere mentioned in the constitution,

332 MORRIS.

has been admitted in a practice founded on legislative
construction.

That, as the tenure of the office is during good be
havior, and, as the clause respecting impeachment does
not specify misbehavior, there is evidently a cause of
removal which cannot be reached by impeachment, and
of course, the executive not being permitted to re
move, the right must necessarily devolve on the legis-
ture. Is this the honorable member's argument ? If it
be, the reply is very simple. Misbehavior is not a
term known in our law; the idea is expressed by the
word " misdemeanor ;" which word is in the clause
quoted respecting impeachments. Taking, therefore,
the two together, and speaking plain old English, the
constitution says :

"The judges shall hold their offices so long as
they shall demean themselves wrell; but if they shall
misdemean, if they shall, on impeachment, be convict
ed of misdemeanor, they shall be removed."

Thus, sir, the honorable member will find that the
one clause is just as broad as the other. He will see,
therefore, that the legislature can assume no right
from the deficiency of either, and will find that this
clause, which he relied on, goes, if rightly understood,
to the confirmation of our doctrine.

Is there a member of this House who can lay his
hand on his heart and say that consistently with the
plain words of our constitution we have a right to re
peal this law? I believe not. And if we undertake
to construe this constitution to our purposes and say

MORRIS. 335;

that public opinion is to be our judge, there is an end
to all constitutions. To what will not this dangerous-
doctrine lead? Should it to-day be the popular wish
to destroy the first magistrate, you can destroy him;
and should he to-morrow be able to conciliate to him
self the will of the people and lead them to wish for
your destruction, it is easily effected. Adopt this
principle, and the whim of the moment will not only
be the law but the constitution of our country.

The gentleman from Virginia has mentioned a
great nation brought to the feet of one of her ser
vants. But why is she in that situation ? Is it not be
cause popular opinion was called on to decide every
thing until those who wore bayonets decided for all
the rest? Our situation is peculiar. At present our
national compact can prevent a State from acting hos-
tilely towards the general interest. But let this com
pact be destroyed, and each. State becomes instan
taneously vested with absolute sovereignty. Is there
no instance of a similar situation to be found in his
tory? Look at the States of Greece. They were once
in a condition not unlike to that in which we should
then stand. They treated the recommendations of their
; Amphictyonic council, which wras more a meeting of
, ambassadors than a legislative assembly, as we did the
; resolutions of the old Congress. Are we wise? So
: were they. Are we valiant? They also were brave.
Have we one common language and are we united
under one head? In this also there was a strong re
semblance. But by their divisions they become at first
victims to the ambition of Philip, and were at length
swallowed up in the Roman Empire. Are we to form

334 MORRIS.

an exception to the general principles of human na
ture and to all the examples of history? And are the
maxims of experience to become false when applied
to our fate?

Some, indeed, flatter themselves that our destiny
will be like that of Rome. Such indeed it might be,
if we had 'the same wise, but vile aristocracy under
whose guidance they became the masters of the world.
But we have not that strong aristocratic arm which
can seize a wretched citizen, scourged almost to death
by a remorseless creditor, turn him into the ranks, and
bid him, as a soldier, bear our eagle in triumph round
the globe ! I hope to God we shall never have such an
abominable institution. But what, I ask, will be the
situation of these States, organized as they now are,
if by the dissolution of our national compact they be
left to themselves ? What is the probable result ? We
shall either be the victims of foreign intrigue and split
into factions, fall under 'the domination of a foreign
power, or else, after the misery and torment of civil
war, become the subjects of a usurping military des
pot. What but this compact, what but this specific
part of it, can save us from ruin ?

The judicial power, that fortress of the constitu
tion, is now to be overturned. Yes, with honest Ajax,
I would not only throw a shield before it, I would build
around it a wall of brass. But I am too weak to de
fend the rampart against the host of assailants. I
must call to my assistance their good sense, their patri
otism and their virtue. Do not, gentlemen, suffer the
rage of passion to drive reason from her seat. If this
law be indeed bad, let us join to remedy the defects.

MORRIS. 335

Has it been passed in a manner which wounded your
pride or roused your resentment? Have, I conjure
you, the magnanimity to pardon that offence. I en
treat, I implore you, to sacrifice those angry passions
to the interests of our country. Pour out this pride of
opinion on the altar of patriotism. Let it be an ex
piatory libation for the weal of America. Do not, for
God's sake, do not suffer that pride to plunge us all
into the abyss of ruin.

Indeed, indeed, it will be but of little, very little
avail, whether one opinion or the other be right or
wrong; it will heal no wounds, it will pay no debts, it
will rebuild no ravaged towns. Do not rely on that
popular will which has brought us frail beings into po
litical existence. That opinion is but a changeable
thing. It will soon change. This very measure will
change it. You will be deceived. Do not, I beseech
you, in reliance on a foundation so frail, commit the
dignity, the harmony, the existence of our nation to
the wild wind. Trust not your treasure to the waves.
Throw not your compass and your charts into the
ocean. Do not believe that its billows will waft you
into port. Indeed, indeed, you will be deceived. Cast
not away this only anchor of our safety. I have seen
its progress. I know the difficulties through which it
was obtained: I stand in the presence of Almighty
God and of the world ; and I declare to you that if you
lose this charter, never! no, never will you get an
other! We are now perhaps arrived at the parting
point. Here, even here, we stand on the brink of fate.
Pause — pause — for heaven's sake, pause ! !

336 MARSHALL.

Marshall, John, a distinguished American jurist, born
at Germantown, Fauquier County, Va., Sept. 24, 1755 ; died
at Philadelphia, July 6, 1835. He served in the American
struggle for Independence, was envoy to France, 1797-98;
member of Congress from Virginia, 1799-1800; Secretary
of State, 1 800-0 T, and Chief Justice of the United States,
1801-35. With his coadjutors Marshall laid the foundations
of American national jurisprudence and developed the great
body of American constitutional law. His mind was strongly
judicial in its cast and accuracy, and sound reasoning char
acterized his writings and speeches. His speech upon the
Federal Constitution exemplifies his style. The centennial
of his appointment to the chief -justiceship was observed
in Washington in February, 1901.

SPEECH ON THE FEDERAL CONSTITU
TION.

DELIVERED JUNE IO, 1788.

MR. CHAIRMAN, — I conceive that the object of the
discussion now before us is whether democracy or
despotism be most eligible. I am sure that those
who framed the system submitted to our investiga
tion, and those who now support it, intend the estab
lishment and security of the former. The supporters
of the constitution claim the title of being firm friends
of the liberty and the rights of mankind. They say
that they consider it as the best means of protecting
liberty. We, sir, idolize democracy. Those who
oppose it have bestowed eulogiums on monarchy. We
prefer this system to any monarchy because we are
convinced tha^ it has a greater tendency to secure our

MARSHALL. 337

liberty and promote our happiness. We admire it
because we think it a well-regulated democracy: it is
recommended to the good people of this country:
they are, through us, to declare whether it be such a
plan of government as will establish and secure their
freedom.

Permit me to attend to what the honorable gentle
man, Mr. Henry, has said. He has expatiated on the
necessity of a due attention to certain maxims, to cer
tain fundamental principles, from which a free peo
ple ought never to depart. I concur with him in the
propriety of the observance of such maxims. They
are necessary in any government, but more essential
to a democracy than to any other.

What are the favorite maxims of democracy?

A strict observance of justice and public faith and
a steady adherence to virtue. These, sir, are the
principles of a good government. No mischief, no
misfortune, ought to deter us from a strict observance
of justice and public faith. Would to heaven that these
principles had been observed under the present gov
ernment! Had this been the case the friends of lib
erty would not be so willing now to part with it. Can
we boast that our government is founded on these
maxims ? Can we pretend to the enjoyment of politi
cal freedom or security when we are told that a man
has been, by an act of Assembly, struck out of exist
ence without a trial by jury, without examination,
without being confronted with his accusers and wit
nesses, without the benefits of the law of the land?
Where is our safety when we are told that this act
was justifiable because the person was not a Socrates ?

338 MARSHALL.

What has become of the worthy member's maxims?
Is this one of them ? Shall it be a maxim that a man
shall be deprived of his life without the benefit of
law? Shall such a deprivation of life be justified by
answering, that the man's life was not taken secun-
dum artem, because he was a bad man ? Shall it be a
maxim that government ought not to be empowered to
protect virtue?

The honorable member, after attempting to vindi
cate that tyrannical legislative act to which I have been
alluding, proceeded to take a view of the dangers to
which this country is exposed. He told us that the
principal danger arose from a government which, if
adopted, would give away the Mississippi.

I intended to proceed regularly, by attending to the
clause under debate; but I must reply to some ob
servations which were dwelt upon to make impres
sions on our minds unfavorable to the plan upon the
table. Have we no navigation in, or do we derive no
benefit from, the Mississippi? How shall we retain
it? By retaining that weak government which has
hitherto kept it from us? Is it thus that we shall se
cure that navigation? Give the government the power
of retaining it and then we may hope to derive actual
advantages from it. Till we do this we cannot ex
pect that a government which hitherto has not been
able to protect it will have the power to do it here
after. Have we attended too long to consider whether
this government would be able to protect us? Shall
we wak for further proofs of its inefficacy? If on ma
ture consideration the constitution will be found to be
perfectly right on the subject of treaties, and contain-

MARSHALL. 339

ing no danger of losing that navigation, will he still
object? Will he object because eight States are un
willing to part with it? This is no good ground of
objection.

He then stated the necessity and probability of ob
taining amendments. This we ought to postpone un
til we come to that clause, and make up our minds
whether there be anything unsafe in this system. He
conceived it impossible to obtain amendments after
adopting it. If he was right, does not his own argu
ment prove that in his own conception previous
amendments cannot be had? for, sir, if subsequent
amendments cannot be obtained, shall we get amend
ments before we ratify? The reasons against the lat
ter do not apply against the former.

There are in this State, and in every State in the
Union, many who are decided enemies of the Union.
Reflect on the probable conduct of such men. What
will they do ? They will bring amendments which are
local in their nature and which they know will not
be accepted. What security have we that other States
will not do the same. We are told that many in
the States were violently opposed to it. They are
more mindful of local interests. They will never
propose such amendments as they think would be ob
tained.

Disunion will be their object. This will be attain
ed by the proposal of unreasonable amendments. This,
sir, though a strong cause, is not the only one that will
militate, against previous amendments. Look at the
comparative temper of this country now, and when the
late Federal Convention met. We had no idea then of

340 MARSHALL.

any particular system. The formation of the most per
fect plan was our object and wish. It was imagined
that the States would accede to, and be pleased with,
the proposition that would be made them. Consider
the violence of opinions, the prejudices and animosi
ties which have been since imbibed.

Will not these operate greatly against mutual con
cessions or a friendly concurrence? This will, how
ever, be taken up more properly another time. He
says we wish to have a strong, energetic, powerful
government. We contend for a well-regulated democ
racy. He insinuates that the power of the govern
ment has been enlarged by the convention, and that
we may apprehend it will be enlarged by others. The
convention did not in fact assume any power.

They have proposed to our consideration a scheme
of government which they thought advisable. We are
not bound to adopt it if we disapprove of it. Had not
every individual in this cornmunity a right to tender
that scheme which he thought most conducive to the
welfare of his country? Have not several gentlemen
already demonstrated that the convention did not ex
ceed their powers ? But the Congress have the pow
er of making bad laws, it seems. The Senate, with
the President, he informs us, may make a treaty
which shall be disadvantageous to us ; and that, if they
be not good men, it will not be a good constitution. I
shall ask the worthy member only if the people at
large, and they alone, ought to make laws and treaties.
Has any man this in contemplation?

You cannot exercise the powers of government per
sonally yourselves. You must trust to agents. If so,

MARSHALL. 341

wiU you dispute giving them the power of acting for
you, from an existing possibility that they may abuse
it ? As long as it is impossible for you to transact your
business in person, if you repose no confidence in
delegates because there is a possibility of their abus
ing it, you can have no government ; for the power of
doing good is inseparable from that of doing some
evil.

We may derive from Holland lessons very benefi
cial to ourselves. Happy that country which can
avail itself of the misfortunes of others, which can
gain knowledge from that source without fatal ex
perience ! What has produced the late disturbances
in that country? The want of such a government as
is on your table, and having in -some measure such
a one as you are about to part with. The want of
proper powers in the government, the consequent de
ranged and relaxed administration, the violence of
contending parties, and inviting foreign powers to in
terpose in their disputes, have subjected them to all
the mischiefs which have interrupted their harmony.

I cannot express my astonishment at his high-color
ed eulogium on such a government. Can anything be
more dissimilar than the relation between the British
government and the colonies, and the relation between
Congress and the States? We were not represented
in Parliament. Here we are represented. Argu
ments which prove the impropriety of being taxed by
Britain do not hold against the exercise of taxation
by Congress.

Let me pay attention to the observation of the
gentleman who was last up, that the power of taxa-

342 MARSHALL.

tion ought not to be given to Congress. This subject
requires the undivided attention of this House. This
power I think essentially necessary; for without it there
will be no efficiency in the government. We have had
a sufficient demonstration of the vanity of depending
on requisitions. How, then, can the general govern
ment exist without this power ? The possibility of its
being abused is urged as an argument against its ex
pediency. To very little purpose did Virginia dis
cover the defects in the old system; to little purpose
indeed did she propose improvements; and to no pur
pose is this plan constructed for the promotion of our
happiness if we refuse it now because it is possible that
it may be abused ?

The confederation has nominal powers but no
means to carry them into effect. If a system of gov
ernment were devised by more than human intelli
gence it would not be effectual if the means were
not adequate to the power. All delegated powers
are liable to be abused. Arguments drawn from this
source go in direct opposition to the government and
in recommendation of anarchy.

The friends of the constitution are as tenacious of
liberty as its enemies. They wish to give no power
that will endanger it. They wish to give the govern
ment powers to secure and protect it. Our inquiry
here must be whether the power of taxation be ne
cessary to perform the objects of the constitution and
whether it be safe and as well guarded as human wis
dom can do it. What are the objects of the national
government? To protect the United States and to
promote the general welfare. Protection in time of

MARSHALL. 343

war is one of its principal objects. Until mankind
shall cease to have ambition and avarice, wars will
arise.

The prosperity and happiness of the people depend
on the performance of these great and important du
ties of the general government. Can these duties be
performed by one State? Can one State protect us
and promote our happiness? The honorable gentle
man who has gone before me, Governor Randolph,
has shown that Virginia cannot do these things. How,
then, can they be done ? By the national government
only. Shall we refuse to give it power to do them?

We are answered that the powers may be abused;
that, though the Congress may promote our happiness,
yet they may prostitute their powers to destroy our
liberties. This goes to the destruction of all confi
dence in agents. Would you believe that men who
had merited your highest confidence would deceive
you? Would you trust them again after one decep
tion ? Why then hesitate to trust the general govern
ment? The object of our inquiry is, Is the power ne
cessary and is it guarded? There must be men and
money to protect us. How are armies to be raised?
Must we not have money for that purpose ?

But the honorable gentleman says that we need not
be afraid of war. Look at history, which has been so
often quoted. Look at the great volume of human
nature. They will foretell you that a defenceless
country cannot be secure. The nature of man for
bids us to conclude that we are in no danger from
war. The passions of men stimulate them to avail
themselves of the weakness of others. The powers of

344 MARSHALL.

Europe are jealous of us. It is our interest to watch
their conduct and guard against them. They must
be pleased with our disunion. If we invite them by
our weakness to attack us will they not do it? If we
add debility to our present situation a partition of
America may take place.

It is, then, necessary to give the government that
power, in time of peace, which the necessity of war
will render indispensable, or else we shall be attacked
unprepared. The experience of the world, a knowl
edge of human nature, and our own particular experi
ence, will confirm this truth. When danger shall come
upon us, may we not do what we were on the point of
doing once already — that is, appoint a dictator?
Were those who are now friends to this constitution
less active^ in the defence of liberty on that trying oc
casion than those who oppose it ? When foreign dan
gers come, may not the fear of immediate destruction
by foreign enemies impel us to lake a most dangerous
step? Where, then, will be our safety?

We may now regulate and frame a plan that will
enable us to repel attacks and render a recurrence to
dangerous expedients unnecessary. If we be prepar
ed to defend ourselves there will be little inducement
to attack us. But if we defer giving the necessary
power to the general government till the moment of
danger arrives we shall give it then, and with an un
sparing hand. America, like other nations, may be
exposed to war. The propriety of giving this power
will be proved by the history of the world, and partic
ularly of modern republics. I defy you to produce a
single instance where requisitions on several individual

MARSHALL. 345

States composing a confederacy have been honestly
complied with. Did gentlemen expect to see such
punctuality complied with in America? If they did,
our own experience shows the contrary.

We are told that the confederation carried us
through the war. Had not the enthusiasm of liberty
inspired us wTith unanimity that system would never
have carried us through it. It would have been much
sooner terminated had that government been possessed
of due energy. The inability of Congress and the
failure of States to comply with the constitutional
requisitions rendered our resistance less efficient than
it might have been. The weakness of that government
caused troops to be against us which ought to have
been on our side, and prevented all resources of the
community from being called at once into action.

The extreme readiness of the people to make their
utmost exertions to ward off solely the pressing dan
ger supplied the place of requisitions. When they
came solely to be depended on their inutility was ful
ly discovered. A bare sense of duty, or a regard to
propriety, is too feeble to induce men to comply with
obligations. We deceive ourselves if we expect any
efficacy from these. If requisitions will not avail, the
government must have the sinews of war some other
way. Requisitions cannot be effectual. They will be
productive of delay and will ultimately be inefficient.
By direct taxations the necessities of the government
will be supplied in a peaceable manner without irri
tating the minds of the people.

But requisitions cannot be rendered efficient with
out a civil war, without great expense of money, and

346 MARSHALL.

the blood of our citizens. Are there any other means ?
Yes, that Congress shall apportion the respective quo
tas previously, and, if not complied with by the States,-
that then this dreaded power shall apportion the re
spective quotas previously, and, if not by the gentleman
who opened the debate. He cannot be answered. This
great objection to that system remains unanswered. Is
there no other argument which ought to have weight
with us on this subject ? Delay is a strong and pointed
objection to it.

We are told by the gentleman who spoke last that
direct taxation is unnecessary because we are not in
volved in war. This admits the propriety of recurring
to direct taxation if we were engaged in war. It has
not been proved that we have no dangers to apprehend
on this point. What will be the consequence of the
system proposed by the worthy gentleman? Suppose
the States should refuse?

The worthy gentleman who is so pointedly opposed
to the constitution proposes remonstrances. Is it a
time for Congress to remonstrate or compel a compli
ance with requisitions when the whole wisdom of the
Union and the power of Congress are opposed to a
foreign enemy? Another alternative is, that, if the
States shall appropriate certain funds for the use of
Congress, Congress shall not lay direct taxes.

Suppose -the funds appropriated by the States for
the use of Congress should be inadequate ; it will not
be determined whether they be insufficient till after
the time at which the quota ought to have been paid ;
and then, after so long a delay, the means of procur
ing money, which ought to have been employed in the

MARSHALL. 347

first instance, must be recurred to. May they not be
amused by such ineffectual and temporizing alterna
tives from year to year, until America shall be en
slaved ?

The failure in one State will authorize a failure in
another. The calculation in some States that others
will fail will produce general failures. This will also
be attended with all the expenses which we are anxious
to avoid. What are the advantages to induce us to
embrace this system? If they mean that requisitions
should be complied with it will be the same as if Con
gress had the power of direct taxation. The same
amount will be paid by the people.

It is objected that Congress will not know how to
lay taxes so as to be easy and convenient for the peo
ple at large. Let us pay strict attention to this objec
tion. If it appears to be totally without foundation the
necessity of levying direct taxes will obviate what the
gentleman says ; nor will there be any color for refus
ing to grant the power.

The objects of direct taxes are well understood:
they are but few ; what are they ? Lands, slaves, stock
of all kinds, and a few other articles of domestic prop
erty. Can you believe that ten men, selected from all
parts of the State, chosen because they know the sit
uation of the people, will be unable to determine so as
to make the tax equal on, and convenient for, the peo
ple at large? Does any man believe that they would
lay the tax without the aid of other information be
sides their own knowledge, when they know that the
very object for which they are elected is to lay the
taxes in a judicious and convenient manner? If they

348 MARSHALL.

wish to retain the affections of the people at large
will they not inform themselves of every circumstance
that can throw light on the subject? Have they but
one source of information ? Besides their own experi
ence, their knowledge of what will suit their constitu
ents, they will have the benefit of the knowledge and
experience of the State legislature. They will see in.
what manner the legislature of Virginia collects its
taxes. Will they be unable to follow their example.

The gentlemen who shall be delegated to Congress
will have every source of information that the legis
latures of the States can have, and can lay the taxes as
equally on the people and with as little oppression as
they can.

If, then, it be admitted that they can understand how
to lay them equally and conveniently, are we to admit
that they will not do it, but that in violation of every
principle that ought to govern men they will lay them1
so as to oppress us? What benefit will they have by
it ? Will it be promotive of their re-election ? Wrill it
be by wantonly imposing hardships and difficulties on
the people at large that they will promote their own in
terest and secure their re-election? To me it appears
incontrovertible that they will settle them in such a
manner as to be easy for the people. Is the system
so organized as to make taxation dangerous ?

I shall not go to the various checks of the govern
ment, but examine whether the immediate repre
sentation of the people be well constructed. I conceive
its organization to be sufficiently satisfactory to the
warmest friend of freedom.

No tax can be laid without the consent of the House,

MARSHALL. 349

of Representatives. If there be no impropriety in the
mode of electing the representatives can any clanger
be apprehended? They are elected by those who can
elect representatives in the State legislature.. How
can the votes of the electors be influenced? By noth
ing but the character and conduct of the man they vote
for. What object can influence them when about
choosing him. They have nothing to direct them in the
choice but their own good. Have you not as pointed
and strong a security as you can possibly have?

It is a mode that seems an impossibility of being cor
rupted. If they are to be chosen for their wisdom, vir
tue, integrity, what inducement have they to infringe
on our freedom? We are told that they may abuse
their power. Are there strong motives to prompt
them to abuse it ? Will not such abuse militate against
their own interest? Will not they and their friends
feel the effects of iniquitous measures? Does the
representative remain in office for life ? Does he trans
mit his title of representative to his son? Is he secured
from the burden imposed on the community?

To procure their re-election it will be necessary for
them to confer with the people at large and convince
them that the taxes laid are for their good. If I am
able to judge on the subject, the power of taxation now
before us is wisely conceded and the representatives
are wisely elected.

The honorable gentleman said that a government
should ever depend on the affections of the people. It
must be so. It is the best support it can have. This
government merits the confidence of the people, and I
make no doubt will have it. Then he informed us

350 MARSHALL.

again of the disposition of Spain with respect to the
Mississippi, and the conduct of the government with
regard to it. To the debility of the confederation
alone may justly be imputed every cause of complaint
on this subject.

Whenever gentlemen will bring forward their ob
jections I trust we can prove that no danger to the navi
gation of that river can arise from the adoption of this
constitution. I beg those gentlemen that may be af
fected by it to suspend their judgment till they hear
it discussed. Will, says he, the adoption of this con
stitution pay our debts? It will compel the States to
pay their quotas. Without this Virginia will be unable
to pay.

Unless all the States pay she cannot. Though the
States will not coin money (as we are told), yet this
government will bring forth and proportion all the
strength of the Union. That economy and industry
are essential to our happiness will be denied by no man.
But the present government will not add to our indus
try. It takes away the incitements to industry by ren
dering property insecure and unprotected. It is the
paper on your table that will promote and encourage
industry.

New Hampshire and Rhode Island have rejected it,
he tells us. New Hampshire, if my information be
right, will certainly adopt it. The report spread in this
country, of which I have heard, is, that the representa
tives of that State having, on meeting, found they
were instructed to vote against it, returned to their con
stituents without determining the question, to convince

MARSHALL. 35 1

them of their being mistaken and of the propriety of
adopting it.

The extent of the country is urged as another objec
tion, as being too great for a republican government.
This objection has been handed from author to author
and has been certainly misunderstood and misapplied.
To what does it owe its source ? To observations and
criticisms on governments where representations did
not exist. As to the legislative power, was it ever sup
posed inadequate to any extent? Extent of country
may render it difficult to execute the laws, but not to
legislate. Extent of country does not extend the
power. What will be sufficiently energetic and oper
ative in a small territory will be feeble when extended
over a wide-exended country. The gentleman tells
us there are no checks in this plan. What has become
of his enthusiastic eulogium on the American spirit?
We should find a check and control when oppressed
from that source. In this country there is no exclu
sive personal stock of interest.

The interest of the community is blended and in
separably connected with that of the individual. When
he promotes his own he promotes that of the com
munity. When we consult the common good we con
sult our own. When he desires such checks as these
he will find them abundantly here. They are the best
checks. What has become of his eulogium on the Vir
ginia constitution? Do the checks in this plan appear
less excellent than those of the constitution of Vir
ginia? If the checks in the constitution be compared
to the checks in the Virginia constitution he will find
the best security in the former.

352 MARSHALL.

The temple of liberty was complete, said he, when
the people of England said to their king that he was
their servant. What are we to learn from this ? Shall
we embrace such a system as that? Is not liberty se
cure with us, where the people hold all powers in their
own hands and delegate them cautiously, for short
periods, to their servants, who are accountable for the
smallest maladministration ? Where is the nation that
can boast greater security than we do ? We want only
a system like the paper before you, to strengthen and
perpetuate this security.

The honorable gentleman has asked if there be any
safety or freedom when we give away the sword and
the purse. Shall the people at large hold the sword
and the purse without the interposition of their repre
sentatives? Can the whole aggregate community act
personally ? I apprehend that every gentleman will see
the impossibility of this. Must they, then, not trust
them to others ? To whom are they to trust them but
to their representatives, who are accountable for their
conduct ?

He represents secrecy as unnecessary and produces
the British government as a proof of its inutility. Is
there no secrecy there? When deliberating on the
propriety of declaring war, or on military arrange
ments, do they deliberate in the open fields?

No, sir. The British government affords secrecy
when necessary, and so ought every government. In
this plan, secrecy is only used when it would be fatal
and pernicious to publish the schemes of government.
We are threatened with the loss of our liberties by the
possible abuse of power, notwithstanding the maxim

MARSHALL. 353

that those who give may take away. It is the people
that give power and can take it back. What shall re
strain them ? They are the masters who give it and of
whom their servants hold it.

He then argues against the system because it does
not resemble the British government in this — that the
same power that declares war has not the means of
carrying it on. Are the people of England more secure
if the Commons have no voice in declaring war ? or are
we less secure by having the Senate joined with the
President? It is an absurdity, says the worthy mem
ber, that the same man should obey two masters, that
the same collector should gather taxes for the general
'government and the State legislature. Are they not
;both the servants of the people? Are not Congress
and the State legislature the agents of the people, and
are they not to consult the good of the people? May
not this be effected by giving the same officer the col
lection of both taxes? He tells you that it is an ab
surdity to adopt before you amend. Is the object of
your adoption to amend solely? The objects of your
adoption are union, safety against foreign enemies,
and protection against faction — against what has been
the destruction of all republics.

These impel you to its adoption. If you adopt it,
what shall restrain you from amending it if in trying
it amendments shall be found necessary ? The govern
ment is not supported by force, but depending on our
free will. When experience shall show us any incon
venience we can then correct it. But until we have
experience on the subject, amendments as well as the
constitution itself are to try.

354 MARSHALL.

Let us try it and keep our hands free to change it
when necessary. If it be necessary to change govern
ment, let us change that government which has been
found to be defective. The difficulty we find in amend
ing the confederation will not be found in amending
this constitution.

Any amendments in the system before you will not
go to a radical change ; a plain way is pointed out for
the purpose. All will be interested to change it, and
therefore all exert themselves in getting the change.
There is such a diversity of sentiment in human minds
that it is impossible we shall ever concur in one system
till we try it. The power given to the general govern
ment over the time, place, and manner of election is
also strongly objected to. When we come to that
clause we can prove it is highly necessary and not
dangerous.

The worthy member has concluded his observations
by many eulogiums on the British constitution. It mat
ters not to us whether it be a wise one or not. I think
that, for America at least, the government on your
table is very much superior to it. I ask you if your
House of Representatives would be better than it is if
a hundredth part of the people were to elect a major
ity of them. If your senators were for life would they
be more agreeable to you? If your President were
not accountable to you for his conduct, — if it were a
constitutional maxim that he could do no wrong, — •
would you be safer than you are now ?

If you can answer, Yes, to these questions, then
adopt the British constitution. If not, then, good as
that government may be, this is better. The worthy

MARSHALL. 355.

gentleman who was last up said the confederacies of
ancient and modern times were not similar to ours,
and that consequently reasons which applied against
them could not be urged against it. Do they not hold
out one lesson very useful to us? However unlike
in other respects they resemble it in its total inefficacy.
They warn us to shun their calamities, and place th
our government those necessary powers the want of
\vhich destroyed them. I hope we shall avail our
selves of their misfortunes without experiencing them.
There was something peculiar in one observation he
made. He said that those who governed the cantons
of Switzerland were purchased by foreign powers,
which was the cause of their uneasiness and trouble.
How does this apply to us? If we adopt such a gov
ernment as theirs will it not be subject to the same
inconvenience? Will not the same cause produce the
same effect? What shall protect us from it? What
is our security?

He then proceeded to say, the causes of war are
removed from us; that we are separated by the sea
from the powers of Europe, and need not be alarmed.
vSir, the sea makes them neighbors to us. Though an
immense ocean divides us, we may speedily see them
with us. What dangers may we not apprehend to our
commerce! Does not our naval weakness invite an
attack on our commerce? May not the Algerines
seize our vessels ? Cannot they and every other preda
tory or maritime nation pillage our ships and destroy
our commerce without subjecting themselves to any in
convenience?

He would, he said, give the general government

12—1

356 MARSHALL.

all necessary powers. If anything be necessary it
must be so to call forth the strength of the Union when
we may be attacked or when the general purposes of
America require it. The worthy gentleman then pro
ceeded to show that our present exigencies are greater
than they wiH ever be again.

Who can penetrate into futurity? How can any
man pretend to say that our future exigencies will be
less than our present? The exigencies of nations have
been generally commensurate to their resources. It
would be the utmost impolicy to trust to a mere possi
bility of not being attacked or obliged to exert the
strength of the community. He then spoke of a selec
tion of particular objects by Congress, which he says
must necessarily be oppressive; that Congress, for in
stance, might select taxes, and that all but landholders
would escape. Cannot Congress regulate the taxes
so as to be equal on all parts of the community?
Where is the absurdity of having thirteen revenues?
Will they clash with or injure each other? If not,
why cannot Congress make thirteen distinct laws and
impose the taxes on the general objects of taxation
in each State so as that all persons of the society shall
pay equally, as they ought?

He then told you that your continental government
will call forth the virtue and talents of America. This
being the case will they encroach on the power of the
State governments ? Will our most virtuous and able
citizens wantonly attempt to destroy the liberty of
the people? Will the most virtuous act the most wick
edly ? I differ in opinion from the worthy gentleman.
I think the virtue and talents- of the members of the

MARSHALL. 357

general government will tend to the security instead
of the destruction of our liberty. I think that the
power of direct taxation is essential to the existence
of the general government and that it is safe to grant
it. If this power be not necessary, and as safe from
abuse as any delegated power can possibly be, then I
say that the plan before you is unnecessary; for it
imports not what system we have, unless it have the
power of protecting us in time of peace and war.

LEE.

Lee, Henry, a noted American patriot and orator, born
at Leesylvania, Va., January 29, 1756 ; died at Cumberland
Island, Ga., November 25, 1818. During the American Rev
olution he commanded a troop of soldiers known as " Lee's
Legion," while he himself was commonly styled " Light-
Horse Harry." He entered Congress in 1787, and was
governor of Virginia 1792-95. While in Congress a second
time the death of Washington occurred in 1799 and he was
appointed by Congress to deliver an oration before that body
upon the character of the great statesman. This eulogy, deliv
ered on December 26, 1799, is still one of the most popular
of American speeches, and has been declaimed by thousands
of schoolboys. His life has been written by his son, Gen
eral Robert E. Lee, the famous leader of the Southern
confederacy.

EULOGY ON WASHINGTON.

[This oration was prepared and delivered at the request of the
Congress of the United States, by General Lee, at Philadelphia, on
the 26th of December, 1799.]

IN obedience to your will I rise, your humble organ,
with the hope of executing a part of the system of
public mourning which you have been pleased to adopt,
commemorative of the death of the most illustrious
and most beloved personage this country has ever
produced; and which, while it transmits to posterity
your sense of the awful event, faintly represents your
knowledge of the consummate excellence you so cor
dially honor.

Desperate indeed is any attempt on earth to meet
correspondently this dispensation of heaven; for,
while with pious resignation we submit to the will of

LEE. 359

an all-gracious Providence, we can never cease lament
ing, in our finite view of Omnipotent wisdom, the
heart-rending privation for which our nation weeps.
When the civilized world shakes to its centre; when
every moment gives birth to strange and momentous
changes; when our peaceful quarter of the globe, ex
empt as it happily has been from any share in the
slaughter of the human race, may yet be compelled to
abandon her pacific policy and to risk the doleful
casualties of war; what limit is there to the extent of
our loss? None within the reach of my words to ex
press ; none which your feelings will not disavow.

The founder of our federate republic, our bulwark
in war, our guide in peace, is no more ! O that this
were but questionable! Hope, the comforter of the
wretched, would pour into our agonizing hearts its
balmy dew. But, alas! there is no hope for us; our
Washington is removed forever! Possessing the
stoutest frame and purest mind, he had passed nearly
to his sixty-eighth year in the enjoyment of high
health, when, habituated by his care of us to neglect
himself, a slight cold, disregarded, became inconveni
ent on Friday, oppressive on Saturday, and, defying
every medical interposition, before the morning of
Sunday, put an end to the best of men.

An end did I say ? — his fame survives ! bounded only
by the limits of the earth and by the extent of the
human mind. He survives in our hearts, in the grow
ing knowledge of our children, in the affection of the
good throughout the world : and when our monuments
shall be done away; \vhen nations now existing shall
be no more; when even our young and far-spreading

360 LEE.

empire shall have perished, still will our Washing
ton's glory unfaded shine and die not, until love of
virtue cease on earth, or earth itself sinks into chaos.

How, my fellow citizens, shall I signal to your
grateful hearts his pre-eminent worth? Where shall
I begin in opening to your view a character through
out sublime? Shall I speak of his warlike achieve
ments, all springing from obedience to his country's
will, all directed to his country's good?

Will you go with me to the banks of the Monon-
gahela, to see your youthful Washington supporting
in the dismal hour of Indian victory, the ill-fated Brad-
dock, and saving, by his judgment and by his valor,
the remains of a defeated army, pressed by the con
quering savage foe; or, when oppressed America,
nobly resolving to risk her all in defence of her vio
lated rights, he was elevated by the unanimous voice
of Congress to the command of her armies?

Will you follow him to the high grounds of Boston,
where to an undisciplined, courageous, and virtuous
yeomanry his presence gave the stability of system
and infused the invincibility of love of country; or
shall I carry you to the painful scenes of Long Island,
York Island, and New Jersey, when, combating su
perior and gallant armies, aided by powerful fleets,
and led by chiefs high in the roll of fame, he stood,
the bulwark of our safety, undismayed by disaster, un
changed by change of fortune?

Or will you view him in the precarious fields of
Trenton, where deep gloom, unnerving every arm,
reigned triumphant through our thinned, worn-down,
unaided ranks; himself unmoved? Dreadful was the

LEE.

night. It was about this time of winter; the storm
raged; the Delaware, rolling furiously with floating
ice, forbade the approach of man. Washington, self-
collected, viewed the tremendous scene; his country
called; unappalled by surrounding dangers he passed
to the hostile shore; he fought; he conquered. The
morning sun cheered the American' world. Our coun
try rose on the event; and her dauntless chief, pursu
ing his blow, completed in the lawns of Princeton what
hh vast soul had conceived on the shores of the
Delaware.

Thence to the strong grounds of Morristown he led
his small but gallant band; and through an eventful
winter, by the high efforts of his genius, whose match
less force was measurable only by the growth of diffi
culties, he held in check formidable hostile legions,
conducted by a chief experienced in the art of war
and famed for his valor on the ever-memorable heights
of Abraham, where fell Wolf e,Montcalm, and since, our
much-lamented Montgomery, all covered with glory.
In this fortunate interval, produced by his masterly
conduct, our fathers, ourselves, animated by his resist
less example, rallied around our country's standard
and continued to follow her beloved chief through the

o

various and trying scenes to which the destinies of
our Union led.

Who is there that has forgotten the vales of Brandy-
wine, the fields of Germantown, or the plains of Mon-
mouth? Everywhere present, wants of every kind
obstructing, numerous and valiant armies encounter
ing, himself a host, he assuaged our sufferings, limited
our privations, and upheld our tottering republic.

362 LEE.

Shall I display to you the spread of the fire of his
soul by rehearsing the praises of the hero of Saratoga
and his much loved compeer of the Carolinas? No;
our Washington wears not borrowed glory. To Gates,
to Greene, he gave without reserve the applause due
to their eminent merit; and long may the chiefs of
Saratoga and of Eutaw receive the grateful respect
of a grateful people.

Moving in his own orbit he imparted heat and
light to his most distant satellites; and, combining
the physical and moral force of all within his sphere,
with irresistible weight he took his course, commiser
ating folly, disdaining vice, dismaying treason, and
invigorating despondency; until the auspicious hour
arrived when, united with the intrepid forces of a
potent and magnanimous ally, he brought to submis
sion the since conqueror of India; thus finishing his
long career of military glory with a lustre correspond
ing to his great name, and in this, his last act of war,
affixing the seal of fate to our nation's birth.

To the horrid din of battle sweet peace succeeded;
and our virtuous chief, mindful only of the common
good, in a moment of tempting personal aggrandize
ment hushed the discontents of growing sedition, and,
surrendering his power into the hands from which he
had received it, converted his sword into a plowshare,
teaching an admiring world that to be truly great you
must be truly good.

Were I to stop here the picture would be incomplete
and the task imposed unfinished. Great as was our
Washington in war, and as much as did that greatness
contribute to produce the American republic, it is not

LEE. 363

in war alone his pre-eminence stands conspicuous.
His various talents, combining all the capacities of a
statesman with those of a soldier, fitted him alike to
guide the councils and the armies of our nation.
Scarcely had he rested from his martial toils, while his
invaluable parental advice was still sounding in our
ears, when he who had been our shield and our sword
was called forth to act a less splendid but more im
portant part.

Possessing a clear and penetrating mind, a strong
and sound judgment, calmness and temper for deliber
ation, with invincible firmness and perseverance in
resolutions maturely formed; drawing information
from all ; acting from himself with incorruptible integ
rity and unvarying patriotism ; his own superiority and
the public confidence alike marked him as the man
designed by heaven to lead in the great political as
well as military events which have distinguished the
era of his life.

The finger of an overruling Providence pointing at
Washington was neither mistaken nor unobserved;
when, to realize the vast hopes to which our Revolu
tion had given birth, a change of political system be
came indispensable.

How novel, how grand the spectacle ! Independent
States, stretched over an immense territory, and
known only by common difficulty, clinging to their
union as the rock of their safety, deciding by frank
comparison of their relative condition to rear on that
rock, under the guidance of reason, a common govern
ment through whose commanding protection, liberty
and order, with their long train of blessings, should be

safe to themselves and the sure inheritance of their
posterity.

This arduous task devolved on citizens selected by
the people from knowledge of their wisdom and con
fidence in their virtue. In this august assembly of
sages and of patriots Washington, of course, was
found; and, as if acknowledged to be the most wise
where all were wise, with one voice he was declared
their chief. How well he merited this rare distinction,
how faithful were the labors of himself and his com
patriots, the work of their hands, and our union,
strength, and prosperity, the fruits of that work, best
attest.

But to have essentially aided in presenting to his
country this consummation of her hopes neither satis
fied the claims of his fellow citizens on his talents, nor
those duties which the possession of those talents im
posed. Heaven had not infused into his mind such
an uncommon share of its ethereal spirit to remain un
employed; nor bestowed on him his genius unaccom
panied with the corresponding duty of devoting it to
the common good. To have framed a constitution
was showing only, without realizing, the general
happiness.

This great work remained to be done ; and America,
steadfast in her preference, with one voice summoned
her beloved Washington, unpractised as he was in the
duties of civil administration, to execute this last act
in the completion of the national felicity. Obedient
to her call, he assumed the high office with that self-
distrust peculiar to his innate modesty, the constant at
tendant of pre-eminent virtue. What was the burst

LEE. 365

of joy through our anxious land on this exhilarating-
event is known to us all. The aged, the young, the
brave, the fair, rivalled each other in demonstrations
of their gratitude; and this high-wrought, delightful
scene was heightened in its effect by the singular con
test between the zeal of the bestowers and the avoid
ance of the receiver of the honors bestowed.

Commencing his administration, what heart is not
charmed with the recollection of the pure and wise
principles announced by himself as the basis of his
political life! He best understood the indissoluble
union between virtue and happiness, between duty and
advantage, between the genuine maxims of an honest
and magnanimous policy and the solid rewards of
public prosperity and individual felicity; watching
with an equal and comprehensive eye over this great
assemblage of communities and interests, he laid the
foundations of our national policy in the unerring, im
mutable principles of morality based on religion, ex
emplifying the pre-eminence of a free government by
all the attributes which win the affections of its citi
zens or command the respect of the world.

" O fortunatos nimium, sua si bona norint ! "*

Leading through the complicated difficulties pro
duced by previous obligations and conflicting interests,
seconded by succeeding Houses of Congress, enlight
ened and patriotic, he surmounted all original obstruc
tion and brightened the path of our nation?! felicity.

The presidential term expiring, his solicitude to

1 "O too fortunate if they recognize the good things tney have.'*

366 LEE.

exchange exaltation for humility returned with a force
increased with increase of age; and he had prepared
his farewell address to his countrymen, proclaiming
his intention, when the united interposition of all
around him, enforced by the eventful prospects of the
epoch, produced a further sacrifice of inclination to
duty. The election of President followed, and Wash
ington, by the unanimous vote of the nation, was called
to resume the chief magistracy. What a wonderful
fixture of confidence ! Which attracts most our admir
ation, a people so correct, or a citizen combining an
assemblage of talents forbidding rivalry and stifling
even envy itself? Such a nation ought to be happy,
such a chief must be forever revered.

War, long menaced by the Indian tribes, now broke
out; and the terrible conflict, deluging Europe with
blood, began to shed its baneful influence over our
happy land. To the first outstretching his invincible
arm, under the order of the gallant Wayne, the Ameri
can eagle soared triumphant through distant forests.
Peace followed victory; and the melioration of the
condition of the enemy followed peace. Godlike vir
tue, which uplifts even the subdued savage !

To the second he opposed himself. New and deli
cate was the conjuncture and great was the stake.
Soon did his penetrating mind discern and seize the
only course, continuing to use all the felicity enjoyed.
He issued his proclamation of neutrality. This index
to his whole subsequent conduct was sanctioned by the
.approbation of both Houses of Congress and by the
approving voice of the people.

To this sublime policy he inviolably adhered, un-

LEE. 367

moved by foreign intrusion, unshaken by domestic
turbulence.

" Justum et tenacem propositi virum,
Non civium ardor prava jubentium,
Non vultus instantis tyranni,
Mente quatit solida." *•

Maintaining his pacific system at the expense of no
duty, America, faithful to herself and unstained in
her honor, continued to enjoy the delights of peace,
while afflicted Europe mourns in every quarter under
the accumulated miseries of an unexampled war ; mis-
eries in which our happy country must have shared
had not our pre-eminent Washington been as firm in
council as he was brave in the field.

Pursuing steadfastly his course, he held safe the
public happiness, preventing foreign war and quelling
internal discord, till the revolving period of a third
election approached, when he executed his interrupted
but inextinguishable desire of returning to the humble
walks of private life.

The promulgation of his fixed resolution stopped
the anxious wishes of an affectionate people from
adding a third unanimous testimonial of their un
abated confidence in the man so long enthroned in
their hearts. When before was affection like this ex
hibited on earth? Turn over the records of ancient
Greece; review the annals of mighty Rome; examine
the volumes of modern Europe; you search in vain.

1 The just man, tenacious of his purpose, is not shaken in his
well-formed convictions by the ill-timed zeal of aggressive citizens
or by the angry face of the tyrant.

368 LEE.

America and her Washington only afford the dignified
exemplification.

The illustrious personage called by the national
voice in succession to the arduous office of guiding a
free people had new difficulties to encounter. The
amicable effort of settling our difficulties with France,
begun by Washington and pursued by his successor
in virtue as in station, proving abortive, America took
measures of self-defence. No sooner was the public
mind roused by the prospect of danger than every eye
was turned to the friend of all, though secluded from
public view and gray in public service. The virtuous
veteran, following his plough, received the unexpected
summons with mingled emotions of indignation at the
unmerited ill-treatment of his country and of a de
termination once more to risk his all in her defence.

The annunciation of these feelings in his affecting
letter to the President, accepting the command of the
army, concludes his official conduct.

First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts
of his countrymen, he was second to none in the hum
ble and endearing scenes of private life. Pious, just,
humane, temperate, and sincere; uniform, dignified,
and commanding, his example was as edifying to all
around him as were the effects of that example lasting-.

To his equals he was condescending ; to his inferiors
kind; and to the dear object of his affections exem-
plarily tender. Correct throughout, vice shuddered in
liis presence and virtue always felt his fostering hand :
the purity of his private character gave effulgence to
"his public virtues.

His last scene comported with the whole tenor of

LEE. 369

his life : although in extreme pain, not a sigh, not a
groan escaped him; and with undisturbed serenity he
closed his well-spent life. Such was the man Amer
ica has lost ! Such was the man for whom our nation
mourns !

Methinks I see his august image and hear, falling;
from his venerable lips, these deep sinking words :

" Cease, sons of America, lamenting our separation :
go on, and confirm by your wisdom the fruits of our
joint counsels, joint efforts, and common dangers.
Reverence religion; diffuse knowledge throughout
your land; patronize the arts and sciences; let liberty
and order be inseparable companions; control party
spirit, the bane of free government; observe good:
faith to, and cultivate peace with, all nations; shut up-
every avenue to foreign influence ; contract rather than
extend national connection; rely on yourselves only;;
be American in thought and deed. Thus will you give
immortality to that Union which was the constant
object of my terrestrial labors. Thus will you pre
serve, undisturbed to the latest posterity, the felicity
of a people to me most dear : and thus will you supply
(if my happiness is now aught to you) the only vacancy
in the round of pure bliss high heaven bestows."

37O HAMILTON.

Hamilton,. Alexander, a renowned American statesman
and financier, born in the Island of St. Nevis, in the West
Indies, January n, 1757; died at Weehawken, N. J., July
12, 1804. As a youth he was sent to New York City to be
educated and entered what is now Columbia University, just
prior to the American Revolution. Fired by the stirring
events of the period he began to address public gatherings,
where his eloquence and earnestness attracted great atten
tion. Leaving college he joined the army, receiving a
commission from Washington, and commanding a battalion
at the siege of Yorktown. With Madison and Jay he wrote
the series of political essays known as The Federalist in
order to bring about the adoption of the Constitution.
Hamilton was the first secretary of the treasury, holding
office from 1789 to 1795. He was killed in a duel with
Aaron Burr.

ON THE EXPEDIENCY OF ADOPTING THE
FEDERAL CONSTITUTION.

CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK, JUNE 24, 1788.

I AM persuaded, Mr. Chairman, that I in my turn
shall be indulged, in addressing the committee. We
all, in equal sincerity, profess to be anxious for the
establishment of a republican government, on a safe
and solid basis. It is the object of the wishes of every
honest man in the United States, and I presume that
I shall not be disbelieved, when I declare, that it is
an object of all others the nearest and most dear to
my own heart. The means of accomplishing this great
purpose become the most important study which can
interest mankind. It is our duty to examine all those

HAMILTON. 3/1

means with peculiar attention, and to choose the best
and most effectual. It is our duty to draw from nature,
from reason, from examples, the best principles of
policy, and to pursue and apply them in the formation
of our government. We should contemplate and com
pare the systems, which, in this examination, come
under our view; distinguish, with a careful eye, the
defects and excellencies of each, and, discarding the
former, incorporate the latter, as far as circumstances
will admit, into our Constitution. If we pursue a dif
ferent course and neglect this duty, we shall probably
disappoint the expectations of our country and of the
world.

In the commencement of a revolution, which re
ceived its birth from the usurpations of tyranny, noth
ing was more natural than that the public mind should
be influenced by an extreme spirit of jealousy. To
resist these enroachments, and to nourish this spirit,
was the great object of all our public and private insti
tutions. The zeal for liberty became predominant and
excessive. In forming our Confederation, this pas
sion alone seemed to actuate us, and we appear to
have had no other view than to secure ourselves from
despotism. The object certainly was a valuable one,
and deserved our utmost attention. But, sir, there is
another object equally important, and which our enthu
siasm rendered us little capable of regarding : I mean
a principle of strength and stability in the organization
of our government, and vigor in its operations. This
purpose can never be accomplished but by the estab
lishment of some select body, formed peculiarly upon
this principle. There are few positions more demon-

3/2 HAMILTON.

strable than that there should be in every republic
some permanent body to correct the prejudices, check
the intemperate passions, and regulate the fluctuations
of a popular assembly. It is evident that a body in
stituted for these purposes must be so formed as to
exclude as much as possible from its own character
those infirmities and that mutability which it is de
signed to remedy. It is therefore necessary that it
should be small, that it should hold its authority dur
ing a considerable period, and that it should have such
an independence in the exercise of its powers as will
divest it as much as possible of local prejudices. It
should be so formed as to be the centre of political
knowledge, to pursue alwrays a steady line of conduct,
and to reduce every irregular propensity to system.
Without this establishment, we may make experiments
without end, but shall never have an efficient govern
ment.

It is an unquestionable truth, that the body of the
people in every country desire sincerely its prosperity ;
but it is equally unquestionable, that they do not
possess the discernment and stability necessary for
systematic government. To deny that they are fre
quently led into the grossest errors by misinformation
and passion, would be a flattery which their own good
sense must despise. That branch of administration es
pecially, which involves our political relations witri
foreign States, a community will ever be incompetent
to. These truths are not often held up in public assem
blies, but they cannot be unknown to any who hear
me. From these principles it follows, that there ought
to be two distinct bodies in our government: one,

HAMILTON. 375

\vhich shall be immediately constituted by and pecul
iarly represent the people, and possess all the popular
features; another, formed upon the principle and for
the purposes before explained. Such considerations
as these induced the Convention who formed your
State Constitution, to institute a Senate upon the pres
ent plan. The history of ancient and modern republics
had taught them, that many of the evils which these
republics had suffered, arose from the want of a cer
tain balance and mutual control indispensable to a
wise administration ; they were convinced that popular
assemblies are frequently misguided by ignorance, by
sudden impulses, and the intrigues of ambitious men;
and that some firm barrier against these operations
was necessary ; they, therefore, instituted your Senate,
and the benefits we have experienced have fully justi
fied their conceptions. . . .

Gentlemen, in their reasoning, have placed the in
terests of the several States and those of the United
States in contrast; this is not a fair view of the subject;
they must necessarily be involved in each other. What
iwe apprehend is, that some sinister prejudice, or some
prevailing passion, may assume the form of a genuine
interest. The influence of these is as powerful as the
most permanent conviction of the public good; and
against this influence we ought to provide. The local
interests of a State ought in every case to give way
to the interests of the Union; for when a sacrifice of
one or the other is necessary, the former becomes only
tin apparent, partial interest, and should yield, on the
principle that the small good ought never to oppose
the great one. When you assemble from your several

374 HAMILTON.

counties in the Legislature, were every member to be
guided only by the apparent interests of his country,
government would be impracticable. There must be a
perpetual accommodation and sacrifice of local advan
tages to general expediency; but the spirit of a mere
popular assembly would rarely be actuated by this
important principle. It is therefore absolutely neces
sary that the Senate should be so formed, as to be
unbiased by false conceptions of the real interests, or
undue attachment to the apparent good of their sev
eral States.

Gentlemen indulge too many unreasonable appre
hensions of danger to the State governments; they
seem to suppose that the moment you put men into a
national council, they become corrupt and tyrannical,
and lose all their affection for their fellow-citizens.
But can we imagine that the Senators will ever be so
insensible of their own advantage, as to sacrifice the
genuine interest of their constituents ? The State gov
ernments are essentially necessary to the form and
spirit of the general system. As long, therefore, as
Congress has a full conviction of this necessity, they
must, even upon principles purely national, have as
firm an attachment to the one as to the other. This
conviction can never leave them, unless they become
madmen. While the Constitution continues to be read,
and its principle known, the States must, by every
rational man, be considered as essential, component
parts of the Union; and therefore the idea of sacrific
ing the former to the latter is wholly inadmissible.

The objectors do not advert to the natural strength
and resources of State governments, which will ever

HAMILTON. 375

give them an important superiority over the general
government. If we compare the nature of their dif
ferent powers, or the means of popular influence which
each possesses, we shall find the advantage entirely
on the side of the States. This consideration, im
portant as it is, seems to have been little attended to.
The aggregate number of Representatives throughout
the States may be two thousand. Their personal in
fluence will, therefore, be proportionably more exten
sive than that of one or two hundred men in Congress.
The State establishments of civil and military officers
of every description, infinitely surpassing in number
any possible correspondent establishments in the gen
eral government, will create such an extent and com
plication of attachments, as will ever secure" the
predilection and support of the people. Whenever,
therefore, Congress shall meditate any infringement
of the State Constitution, the great body of the people
will naturally take part with their domestic representa
tives. Can the general government withstand such a
united opposition? Will the people suffer themselves
to be stripped of their privileges? Will they suffer
their Legislatures to be reduced to a shadow and a
name? The idea is shocking to common-sense.

From the circumstances already explained, and
many others w^hich might be mentioned, results a com
plicated, irresistible check, which must ever support
the existence and importance of the State governments.
The danger, if any exists, flows from an opposite
source. The probable evil is, that the general govern
ment will be too dependent on the State Legislatures,
too much governed by their prejudices, and too ob-

3/6 HAMILTON.

sequious to their humors; that the States, with every
power in their hands, will make encroachments on the
national authority, till the Union is weakened and dis
solved.

Every member must have been struck with an ob
servation of a gentleman from Albany. Do what you
will, says he, local prejudices and opinions will go into
the government. What ! shall we then form a Consti
tution to cherish and strengthen these prejudices?
Shall we confirm the distemper, instead of remedying
it. It is undeniable that there must be a control some
where. Either the general interest is to control the
particular interests, or the contrary. If the former,
then certainly the government ought to be so framed,
as to render the power of control efficient to all intents
and purposes; if the latter, a striking absurdity fol
lows; the controlling powers must be as numerous as
the varying interests, and the operations of the govern
ment must therefore cease ; for the moment you accom
modate these different interests, which is the only way
to set the government in motion, you establish a con
trolling power. Thus, whatever constitutional provi
sions are made to the contrary, every government will
be at last driven to the necessity of subjecting the
partial to the universal interest. The gentlemen ought
always, in their reasoning, to distinguish between the
real, genuine good of a State, and the opinions and
prejudices which may prevail respecting it; the latter
may be opposed to the general good, and consequently
ought to be sacrificed; the former is so involved in it
that it never can be sacrificed.

There are certain social principles in human nature

HAMILTON. 377

from which we may draw the most solid conclusions
with respect to the conduct of individuals and of com
munities. We love our families more than our neigh
bors ; we love our neighbors more than our countrymen
in general. The human affections, like the solar heat,
lose their intensity as they depart from the centre, and
become languid in proportion to the expansion of the
circle on which they act. On these principles, the at
tachment of the individual will be first and forever
secured by the State governments; they will be a
mutual protection and support. Another source of
influence, which has already been pointed out, is the
various official connections in the States. Gentlemen
endeavor to evade the force of this by saying that these
offices will be insignificant. This is by no means true.
The State officers will ever be important, because they
are necessary and useful. Their powers are such as
are extremely interesting to the people ; such as affect
their property, their liberty, and life. What is more
important than the administration of justice and the
execution of the civil and criminal laws? Can the
State governments become insignificant while they
have the power of raising money independently and
without control? If they are really useful; if they are
calculated to promote the essential interests of the
people; they must have their confidence and support.
The States can never lose their powers till the whole
people of America are robbed of their liberties. These
must go together ; they must support each other, or
meet one common fate. On the gentleman's principle,
we may safely trust the State governments, though we
have no means of resisting them; but we cannot con-

378 HAMILTON.

fide in the national government, though we have an
effectual constitutional guard against every encroach
ment. This is the essence of their argument, and it is
false and fallacious beyond conception.

With regard to the jurisdiction of the two govern
ments, I shall certainly admit that the Constitution
ought to be so formed as not to prevent the States
from providing for their own existence; and I main
tain that it is so formed ; and that their power of pro
viding for themselves is sufficiently established. This
is conceded by one gentleman, and in the next breath
the concession is retracted. He says Congress has but
one exclusive right in taxation — that of duties on im
ports; certainly, then, their other powers are only
concurrent. But to take off the force of this obvious
conclusion, he immediately says that the laws of the
United States are supreme and that where there is
one supreme there cannot be a concurrent authority;
and further, that where the laws of the Union are
supreme, those of the States must be subordinate;
because there cannot be two supremes. This is curious
sophistry. That two supreme powers cannot act to
gether is false. They are inconsistent only when they
are aimed at each other or at one indivisible object.
The laws of the United States are supreme, as to all
their proper, constitutional objects; the laws of the
States are supreme in the same way. These supreme
laws may act on different objects without clashing; or
they may operate on different parts of the same com
mon object with perfect harmony. Suppose both gov
ernments should lay a tax of a penny on a certain
article ; has not each an independent and uncontrollable

HAMILTON. 379

power to collect its own tax? The meaning of the
maxim, there cannot be two supremes, is simply this —
two powers cannot be supreme over each other. This
meaning is entirely perverted by the gentlemen. But,
it is said, disputes between collectors are to be referred
to the Federal courts. This is again wandering in the
field of conjecture. But suppose the fact is certain; is
it not to be presumed that they will express the true
meaning of the Constitution and the laws ? Will they
not be bound to consider the concurrent jurisdiction;
to declare that both the taxes shall have equal opera
tion; that both the powers, in that respect, are sover
eign and co-extensive ? If they transgress their duty,
we are to hope that they will be punished. Sir, we
can reason from probabilities alone. When we leave
common-sense, and give ourselves up to conjecture,
there can be no certainty, no security in our reasonings.
I imagine I have stated to the committee abundant
reasons to prove the entire safety of the State govern
ments and of the people. I would go into a more
minute consideration of the nature of the concurrent
jurisdiction, and the operation of the laws in relation
to revenue ; but at present I feel too much indisposed
to proceed. I shall, with leave of the committee, im
prove another opportunity of expressing to them more
fully my ideas on this point. I wish the committee to
remember that the Constitution under examination is
framed upon truly republican principles; and that, as
it is expressly designed to provide for the common pro
tection and the general welfare of the United States, it
must be utterly repugnant to this Constitution to sub
vert the State governments or oppress the people.

380 ANDREW.

Andrew, John A., an eminent American statesman
and orator, born at Windham, Maine, May 31, 1818; died
in Boston, Mass., October 30, 1867. He v/as admitted to
the bar in 1840, and for twenty years was prominent as a
lawyer of Boston. During this period his advocacy of Whig
principles had made him conspicuous in politics, and he
was known as a determined opponent of slavery. He
entered the state senate in 1858, and in 1860 was elected
governor of his state, holding office for five successive terms.
He actively supported the war measures of the administra
tion, and during the war period made many patriotic ad
dresses. He had great executive ability, and his oratory
was as forcible as it was eloquent. Among his more impor
tant speeches are those on The Eve of War, addressed to
the Massachusetts legislature in 1861, In Honor of Patriot
Heroes, and on The Return of the Battle Flags.

THE EVE OF WAR.

FROM ADDRESS TO THE LEGISLATURE OF MASSACHU
SETTS, JANUARY 5, l86l.

THE constitutional choice to the presidency of a
citizen who adheres to the original principles of the
fathers of the country, is the happy result of the recent
national election. But by events which have since
transpired in the southern States it appears that a
large, influential, and energetic body of men in that
section of the country, who control the action of at
least the State of South Carolina, desire to resist, if
necessary, by force of arms, this peaceful and consti
tutional triumph of republican principles, to which

ANDREW. 381

they ought in honor and loyalty to yield a generous
acquiescence.

Forgetful of the traditions of their ancestors they
seem determined to live in peace under no govern
ment which shall not concede to them the privilege
not only of enslaving their fellow beings within their
own dominion, but also of transporting them at their
pleasure into the national territory, or from State to
State absolutely without restriction, and of retaining
them as slaves wheresoever within the national limits
they themselves may please to sojourn.

It is the recommendation of President Buchanan in
his recent annual message, that by means of consti
tutional amendments to be initiated by Congress or
in a national convention, concessions shall be made for
the satisfaction of this extraordinary demand. This
is a subject which I commend to your immediate but
deliberate consideration, and I shall be happy to con
cur with what I hope will be the unanimous sentiment
of the legislature, in a declaration of the opinion of
Massachusetts with reference to the state of the
Union and the suggestions of the federal Executive.

If Massachusetts, either by voice or vote, can prop
erly do anything to avert from those misguided men
the miserable consequences which threaten to succeed
their violent action — the pecuniary disturbances and
the civil commotions which must necessarily occur
within their own borders if they persist in their career,
her voice and vote should not be withheld. Not the
least deplorable result of the action of South Carolina
I apprehend will be the insecurity to life and property
which will result throughout the whole South from

382 ANDREW.

fear of servile insurrection. Wherever slavery exists,
we have the authority of Jefferson for believing that,
in his own words, " the hour of emancipation is ad
vancing in the march of time; it will come; and
whether brought on by the generous energy of our
own minds, or by the bloody process of St. Domingo,
is a leaf of our history not turned over."

The enslaved negro population of the South is not
destitute of intelligence nor devoid of that sentiment
of resistance to tyranny which naturally inspires the
oppressed to seek for freedom. If as appears prob
able it shall once conceive from the present march of
events that it has no hope of emancipation from any
generous exertion of the minds of its masters a resort
to that process will be only the logical impulse of
human nature. That God may be pleased to overrule
the folly of man so as to avert so dreadful a calam
ity must be the prayer o.f every American; but in my
judgment it lies in the end of the road which South
Carolina invites her sister States upon the Gulf of
Mexico to enter.

I have searched the position of Massachusetts with
all the disinterested patriotism which I could com
mand for the performance of that duty, and I find
nothing by which I can reproach her with responsi
bility for such results if they shall come to pass; but I
invite you to a similar examination.

The truth of history compels me to declare that one
chief source of the difficulty which we are called to
encounter lies in the incessant misrepresentation of
the principles, purposes, and methods of the people
who compose the majority in the free States by super-

ANDREW. 383

serviceable individuals, who undertake to monopolize
friendship for the people of the slave-holding States ;
and candor requires me to add that they profess a
friendship the largest part of which might be analyzed
into dislike of their political opponents.

I have for twenty years past been a constant and
careful observer of public men and affairs; and for
twelve years, at least, I have been intimately aware
of the private as well as the public declarations and
conduct of the representative men in almost every
town and village of the Commonwealth. I think I
may claim also some intimacy with the great body of
the people of Massachusetts of whatsoever party.
This period has been one of extraordinary and intense
political interest. The tenderest sentiments, the deep
est convictions, the warmest emotions have all been
stirred by the course of public affairs. Bitter disap
pointments, the keenest sense of injustice, the con
sciousness of subjection to most flagrant wrong have
fallen to the lot of our people.

The Fugitive Slave Bill of 1850 with its merciless
severity and the ostentatious indignity with which it
was executed ; the repeal of the Missouri restriction
upon the extension of slavery over national territory;
the violent means adopted to prevent emigrants from
this Commonwealth from participating in the settle
ment of Kansas ; the invasion of that Territory by men
armed with the plunder from national arsenals; the
imposition of fraudulent legislatures upon a people
temporarily subjugated by ruffianism and unprotected
bv a federal executive which also forbade them to
protect themselves; the indiscriminate pillage, fire, and

384 ANDREW.

slaughter to which peaceable settlers were subjected
without cause or excuse; the repeated exertions of
the national administration in conspiracy with the
enemies of freedom and good government, to impose
and enforce upon Kansas a constitution sanctioning
slavery; the attempt to withdraw the discussion of
political questions from the people themselves and to
confine it to a conclave of judges; the assault upon
free speech in Congress by a murderous attack upon
a senator in his seat for opinions expressed in debate
and for the manner of their expression; the indiffer
ence of positive approval with which this attempt to
overthrow representative institutions was treated
throughout a large portion of the country; the pros
titution of all the powers of the government and the
bending of all its energy to propagate a certain inter
est for the benefit of a few speculators in lands,
negroes, and politics, and to discourage the free labor
of the toiling masses of the people; the menaces of
violence and war against the constitution and the
Union with which our arguments and our constitu
tional resistance have been met; these all are but a
part of the record of the last ten years of American
political history, which is burned into the memory of
the people of Massachusetts.

And yet during all the excitement of this period,
inflamed by the heats of repeated presidential elec
tions, I have never known a single Massachusetts
Republican to abandon his loyalty, surrender his faith,
or seal up his heart against the good hopes and kind
affections which every devoted citizen ought to enter
tain for every section of his country. During all this

ANDREW. 385

maladministration of the national government, the
people of Massachusetts have never wavered from
their faith in its principles or their loyalty to its or
ganization.

Looking forward to the long ages of the future;
building always, in their own minds, for countless
generations yet to come ; they have endured, and are
willing still cheerfully and hopefully to endure, much
wrong and more misconception, because they trust in
the blood inherited from heroic ancestors; in the
principles of constitutional liberty; in the theory
of democratic institutions; in the honest purpose of
the intelligent masses of the people everywhere; in
the capacity of truth and right ultimately to reach and
control the minds of men; in an undying affection
for their whole country, its memories, traditions, and
hopes ; and above all in the good Providence of God.

It was at a great cost that our fathers established
their independence and erected this Union of States
— which exists under the form of a national govern
ment, unquestionable as to its authority to act on all
persons and all things within the sphere of its juris
diction and the range of its granted powers. It needs
ask permission from no one to fulfil its functions or to
perpetuate its existence. It has no right nor power
to abdicate; nor to expel a State, or any portion of
the people of any State, from the benefits of its pro
tection ; nor to permit their revolt against the duties
of a common citizenship.

By the incurring of national debts, by the granting
of pensions, patents, and copyrights, by the issue of
commissions establishing a tenure of office not ter-

386 ANDREW.

minable at the pleasure of the appointing1 power, by
the purchase and the conquest of territory erected
into additional States, by the improvement of harbors
and rivers and the construction of military roads, by
the settlement of wildernesses and the development of
their resources under the national patronage, by the
investment of vast sums of money in buildings for
the transaction of public business, in light-houses,
navy-yards, fortifications, vessels of war, and their
equipment, by the assumption of obligations under
treaties with Indian tribes and foreign powers, the
people of the United States have paid and are paying
a continuing consideration for the existence of this
national government in all its sovereign territorial
integrity.

All the people of all the States are interlocked and
interlaced in a vast web of mutual interests, rights,
and obligations as various and as precious as are the
characteristics of that wonderful civilization in which
they participate. And this Union, through whatever
throes or crises it may pass, cannot expire except
with the annihilation of the people.

Come what may I believe that Massachusetts will
do her duty. She will stand by the incoming national
administration as she has stood bv the past ones; be
cause her people will forever stand by their country.
The records of her revolutionary history declare her
capacity and her will to expend money, sympathy, and
men to sustain the common cause. More than half
the soldiers of the Revolution were furnished by New
England; and Massachusetts alone contributed more
men to the federal armies than were enlisted in all

ANDREW. 387

the southern States. She is willing to make the same
sacrifices again if need be in the same cause; and her
capacity to do so has increased in proportion with the
increase in her wealth and population.

The echoes of the thunder of her revolutionary
battlefields have not yet died away upon the ears of
her sons, and the vows and prayers of her early pa
triots still whisper their inspiration. The people of
Massachusetts will in any, event abide by her plighted
faith. She agreed to the constitution of the United
States. It is the charter of the Union, it is the record
of the contract, and the written evidence of rights
intended to be secured to the States and to the people.

History shows that never at any one time is there
more than one grand issue on trial under a popular
government before the great tribunal of the people.
A reactionary movement against the doctrines and
traditions of liberty handed down from the beginning
precipitated the trial in the elections of 1856 of an
issue made up upon the relation of slavery to the terri
torial possessions of the nation, and the right of the
people to manage those possessions so as to protect
themselves, preserve their liberties, strengthen the
Union, promote the common happiness and welfare,
and best develop the resources of the lands within
exclusive federal jurisdiction.

By the conduct and manifest designs of the leaders
of that same reactionary movement the same issue
was kept open and presented to the country in a form
still more intense, and a popular verdict demanded in
the elections of 1860. So far as that issue can be
settled by a popular election of President of the
13—1

388 ANDREW.

United States, its settlement is for the present com
plete. In the next national election it may again be
presented and the grand issue of 1860 be repeated in
1864, should the people of the country be of opinion
that any duty or practical advantage remains depend
ent on the possible result of a new trial. Meanwhile
other duties command our immediate care. There is
now no issue before the people touching their politi
cal relations to slavery in the Territories. The
policy of the national government in that regard is
determined for -the next four years; but instead of
preparing for a rehearing and an endeavor to reverse
the verdict at the end of that period, that party of
reaction has now engaged in an effort to abolish the
tribunal and overthrow7 the authority of the people
themselves. And the single question now presented
to the nation is this: "Shall a reactionary spirit,
unfriendly to liberty, be permitted to subvert demo
cratic republican government organized under consti
tutional forms? "

Upon this issue, over the heads of all mere poli
ticians and partisans, in behalf of the Commonwealth
of Massachusetts I appeal directly to the warm hearts
and clear heads of the great masses of the people.
The men who own and till the soil, who drive the
mills, and hammer out their own iron and leather
on their own anvils and lapstones, and they who,
whether in the city or the country, reap the rewards of
enterprising industry and skill in the varied pursuits
of business, are honest, intelligent, patriotic, inde
pendent, and brave. They know that simple defeat
in an election is no cause for the disruption of a gov-

ANDREW. 389

ernment. They know that those who declare that
they will not live peaceably within the Union do not
mean to live peaceably out of it. They know that the
people of all sections have a right which they intend
to maintain, of free access from the interior to both
oceans, and from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, and
of the free use of all the lakes and rivers and high
ways of commerce, north, south, east, or west. They
know that the Union means peace and unfettered
commercial intercourse from sea to sea and from
shore to shore; that it secures us all against the un
friendly presence or possible dictation of any foreign
power, and commands respect for our flag and security
for our trade.

And they do not intend, nor will they ever consent
to be excluded from these rights which they have so
long enjoyed, nor to abandon the prospect of the
benefits which humanity claims for itself by means of
their continued enjoyment in the future. Neither
will they consent that the continent shall be overrun
by the victims of a remorseless cupidity, and the ele
ments of civil danger increased by the barbarizing
influences which accompany the African slave trade.

Inspired by the same ideas and emotions which
commanded the fraternization of Jackson and Webster
on another great occasion of public danger, the people
of Massachusetts, confiding in the patriotism of their
brethren in other States, accept this issue and respond
in the words of Jackson : " The Federal Union, it
must be preserved."

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